
Glass. 
Book: 



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PROSE WBITINGS OP BAYAKU TAYLOR. 

EEVISED EDITION. 



ELDORADO. 



^I^ ^'^^^-^^Zj 



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DBAYA^FlD tatlopl 





''^1 Francisco mNoveml^er 1^^^^' 



New^ork. G. F Putnam. 



ELDORADO 

I 



ADVENTURES IN THE PATH OF EMPIRE 



COMPRISING 



A TOTAGf; TO CALIFORNIA, VIA PANAMA ; LIFE IN SAN FRANCISCO AND 

MONTEREY; PICTURES OF THE GOLD REGION, AND EXPERIENCES 

OF MEXICAN TRAVEL 



By bayard TAYLOK 



WEW YORK 
G. P. PUTNAM AND SON, 661 Broadway. 

1868 



5^S 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1850, hy 

BAYAPvD TAYLOR, 

»n the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 

District of New York. 




RIVtRSIDB, CAMBRIDGE: 
HUNTED BY B. 0. HOUGHTON AND COMPANT. 



TO 



EDWARD F. BEALE, LIEUT., U. S. N. 
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED 



THE AUTHOR S ESTEEM AND AFFECTION. 



PREFACE 



This work requires but few words in the way of introduction: 
Though the author's purpose in visiting California was not to wiito 
a book, the circumstances of his journey seemed to impose it upon 
him as a duty, and all his observations ts^ere made with this end in 
view. The condition of California, during the latter half of the 
year 1849, was as transitory as it was marvellous ; the records 
which were then made can never be made again. Seeing so much 
that was worthy of being described — so many curious and shifting 
phases of society — such examples of growth and progress, miost 
wonderful in their first stage — in a word, the entire construction 
of a new and sovereign State, and the establishment of a great 
commercial metropolis on the Pacific coast — the author suffered 
no opportunity to pass, which might qualify him to preserve their 
fleeting images. As he was troubled by no dreams of gold, and 
took no part in exciting schemes of trade, he has hoped to give 
an impartial coloring to the picture. His impressions of Califor- 
nia are those of one who went to sec and write, and who sought 



Vm PREFACE. 

to do both faithfully. Whatever may be the faults of his work, 
he trusts this endeavor will be recognized. 

A portion, only, of the pages which follow, were included in the 
original letters which appeared in the columns of the New-York 
Tribune. Many personal incidents, and pictures of society as it 
then existed in California, noted down at the time, have been 
added, and a new form given to the materials obtained. The 
account of the author's journey across Mexico, is now published 
for the first time. 

If, when a new order of things has been established and what 
has occurred is looked upon as a phenomenon of the Past, some 
of these pages should be preserved as a record and remembrance 
thereof, the object of this work will be fully accomplished. 



CONTENTS. 



Pagi 
CHAPTER I. 

From New Tork to Chagres— The Shores of Florida— Night in Havana Harbor- 
New Orleans— Chagres from the Sea 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Crossing the Tsthmus— Quarrel with a Native— The Village of Gatun— Songs on 
the River— A Priest's Household— An Affectionate Boatman— Riding ThroTigh 
the Forest*— We Beach Panama.... 11 

CHAPTER m. 
Scenes in Panama«— Emigrants Arriving — Ruined Churches 26 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Pacific Coast of Mexico — Meal-time on the Steamer— A Midnight Call at 
Acapulco— The Mexican Coast— The Old Presidio of San Bias— Touching at 
Mazatlan 81 

CHAPTER V. 

The Coast of California— A Treacherous Coast— Harbor of San Diego— Narratives 
of Emigration— Gren, Villamil and his Colony— The Last Day of the Voyage — 
The Anchor Drops 43 

CHAPTER VI. 

First Impressions of San Francisco — Appearance of the Town— the New-Comer's 
Bewilderment— Indifferent Shopkeepers — Street Gold — People in Town 54 

1* 

.9 



CONTENTS. 



Paoi 

CHAPTER YII. 

To the San Joaquin, on Muleback— Scenery of the Inland — Eanches on the Road- 
Colonel Fr6mont— A Sonorian Comrade— Crossing the Coast Eange— The Mos- 
qnitos and the Ferry 62 

CHAPTER YHL 

Camp-Life and a Kide to the Diggings— Stockton — Eocky Mountain Men— Fiery 
Travel— the Mule's Heart— Arrival at the Diggings 76 

CHAPTER IX 

The Diggings on Mokelumne Eiver — Gold in the Eiver-Bed- The Sonorians— 
The Process of Dry-Washing— Stories of the Gold-Diggers— Cost of our Visit.. 84 

CHAPTER X. 

A Gallop to Stockton, with some Words on Law and Society — ^Appropriating a 
Horse— The Califomian Horse— A Flogging Scene in Stockton — Law and Order 
—Moral EflFect of Gold 94 

CHAPTER XI. 

d. Night-Adventure In the Mountains — An Unceremonious Supper— The Trail Lost 
— Second View of San Francisco— Col. Fr6mont'8 Mine 104 

CHAPTER Xn. 

San Francisco by Day and Night— The Streets after Breakfast— A Bull-Chase— The 
Afternoon— The Inside of a Gaming-Hell • • • • 112 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Incidents of a Walk to Monterey— Fisher's Eanche — Agriculture in California — 
A Mountain Panorama— Belated on the Eoad— The Gila Emigrants — Monterey 
at Last 121 

CHAPTER XIY. 

Life In Monterey — ^The Fleas Outwitted— The Growth of Monterey — ^Domestic 
Life and Society— Qiriet of the Town— Population— National Feeling in Cali- 
fornia 185 



CONTENTS. K 



Pagk 
CHAPTER XV. 

The State Organization of California— Steps toward Organization— The Con- 
vention Meets — The Question of Suffrage— Trouble about the Boundary — The 
Great Seal of the State— Distinguished Californians 146 



CHAPTER XVL 

The Closing Scenes of the Convention— A Ball-Eoom Picture— Signing the Con- 
stitution—Gen. Riley and the Members— Moral of the Convention 169 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Shore and Forest— Swimming a Ravine — Dinner by the Sea-Shore — Geology and 
Indian Tradition— The Sea-Lions on Point Lobos 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Old California— Its Missions and its Lands — Rise of the Missions— Their Downfall — 
Extent of the Mission Property — The Law for Granting Lands — Uncertain 
Boundary of Grants — Disposition of the Gold Land 179 

CHAPTER XIX 

Return to San Francisco— Journey in an Ambulance— Night and Morning in the 
Mountains— Fording the Pajaro River— A Sirocco in San Jos6 — Night-Camp 
under the Oaks 192 



CHAPTER XX. 

San Francisco Again — Post OflSce Experiences — More Statistics of Growth — An 
Ague Case— Structure of the Post Office — Sounds on the Portico — Increase of 
Pay Needed 20S 



CHAPTER XXL 

Sacramento River and City — The Straits of Carquinez — New-York-of-the-Pacifio 
— View of Sacramento City — Its Life and Business — Cattle of Experience- 
Sights at the Horse Market 214 



Xii CONTENTS. 



Pa OR 
CHAPTER XXn. 

Travelling on the Plains— Night, Rain and a Ranche— The Nevada at Sunset— Prairie 
and Wood Craft— Among the Hills— A Knot of Politicians 221 

CHAPTER XXin. 

Journey to the Volcano— The Forest Trail— Camping in a Storm— The Volcanic Com- 
luunity— Appearance of the Extinct Craters— The Top of Polo's Peak— Return to 
the Mokelnmne. 289 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Election Scenes and Mining Characters— Voting on the Mokelumne — Incidents of 
Digging— An Englishman in Raptures—" Buckshot" — Quicksilver— My own Gold 
Digging 267 

CHAPTER XXV. 
The Rainy Season— The Ferry — Deception oi tlie Diggers— Dry Creek and Amador's 
Creek- A Ranche and its Inhabitants— A Female Specimen— A Vision Relin- 
qnished 260 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Night in Sacramento City— Perils of a Stroll— The City Music— Ethiopian Melodies 
— Californian Theatre— Playing the Eavesdropper— Squatters' Quarrels—Fate of my 
Mare 272 

CHAPTER XXVn. 
The Overland Emigration of 1849— Its Character— The Cholera on the Plains— Salt 
Lake City — The Great Basin- The Nevada— Descent of the Mountains— Apathy In 
Peril— The Close 280 

CHAPTER XXVHI. 
I'he Italy of the "West— Steam on the Sacramento— The Sunsets of California- -A 
Company of Washmen- A Voracious Donkey— Attempt at Squatter Life 292 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
San Francisco four months Later— Character of Business— Life and Society— TTn- 
fathomable Mud— Streets and Men 301 



CONTENTS. Xlll 



Paor 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Societj- in California — The Transformation of the Emigrant — The Norsemen Re- 
vived — ^The Energies of Society — California Democracy 810 

CHAPTER XXXL 

Leaving San Francisco~A German Crew and Chilian Schooner— Weathering a South- 
Easter— The Fire on Shore— "We put back in Distress— The Burnt District— Stem- 
ming a Flood Tide— The Steamer— Paso del Mar— Down the Coast 815 

CHAPTER XXXH. 
Maxatlan— A Chinese Boniface— The Streets by Night and Day — The Atmosphere of 
the Gulf— Preparations to leave — Solemn Warnings 826 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Travel in the Tierra Caliente— Tropical Winter— A Lazy Mule— Night at a Ranche — 
A " Caminador" — Evening at a Posada— Breakfast in El Rosario — A Jolly Hostess — 
Ride to La Bayona— The Palm and the Pine — Indian Robbers— Chat with the Na- 
tives—El Chucho— The Ferry of Rio Santiago— A Night of Horror 888 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
The Ascent to the Table-Land — My Friend and Caminador — A Bargain — The People 
— Tepic — Sacred Mysteries at San Lionel— The Massacre of the Innocents— A Val- 
ley Picture — Crossing the Barranca 850 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Robber Region— Meeting a Conducta— Tequila below— Suspicions— The Robbers 
at Last— Plundered and Bound — My Liberation — A Gibbet Scene— The Kind Padre 
of Guadalajara 868 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Three Days in Guadalajara— My Hosts— An Unlucky Scotchman— Financiering— 
The Cabal —Notoriety— Movable Fortresses— The Alameda— Tropic Beauty by 
Moonlight— An Affectionate Farewell 8T3 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
In the Diligence to Guanajuato— Pleasant Travel— The Cholera— San Juan de ios 
Lagos -The Valley of Leon— An Enchanted City— The Eve of a Robber's Death.. 888 



XIV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXVIIL 

The Dividing Eidge and Descent to the Valley of Mexico— The Bajio— Au Escort— A 
Gay Padre— Zurutuza's Hacienda— The Pass of Capulalpan— Mexico 393 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Scenes In the Mexican Capital— Interior of the Cathedral— Street Characters— Smok- 
ing in the Theatre— Aztec Antiquities 



CHAPTER XL. 
Mexican Politics and Political Men— The Halls of Congress— Presentation of the 
American Minister— Herrera, his Qovernment and Ministers 407 

CHAPTER XLI. 
Cbapnltepec and the Battle Fields— The Panorama of the Valley 414 

- CHAPTER XLH. 

The Base of Popocatapetl— Another View of the Valley— The Pine Woods of Eio 
Frio— Malinche— Popocatapetl and the Pyramid of Cholula— Puebla at Night 422 

CHAPTER XLHI. 

Glimpses of Purgatory and Paradise — The Plains of Perote— The Rim- of the Table- 
Land— Magnificent View— Paradise— Orizaba Mountain— The Delights of Jalapa- 
The Field of Cerro Gordo— The Continent Crossed 489 

CHAPTER XLiy. 
Vera Cruz and San Juan d'UUoa— Homeward 441 



ELDORADO 



CHAPTER I. 

FROM NEW YORK TO CHAGRES. 

On the 28th of June, 1849, I sailed from New York, in the 
U. S. Mail steamship Falcon, bound for Chagres. About eight 
months had elapsed since the tidings of an Eldorado in the West 
reached the Atlantic shore. The first eager rush of adven- 
turers was over, jet there was no cessation to the marvellous 
reports, and thousands were only waiting a few further repetitions, 
to join the hordes of emigration. The departure of a steamer 
was still something of an incident. The piers and shipping were 
crowded with spectators, and as the Falcon moved from her 
moorings, many a cheer and shout of farewell followed her. The 
glow and excitement of adventure seemed to animate even those 
who remained behind, and as for our passengers, there was scarcely 
one who did not feel himself more or less a hero. The deck rang 
with songs, laughter and gaily-spoken anticipations of roving life 
and untold treasure, till we began to feel the heavy swell rolling 
inward from Sandy Hook. . 

Rough weather set in with the night, and for a day or two 
we were all in the same state of torpid misery. Sea-sickness — 
next to Death, the greatest leveler — could not, however, smooth 
down the striking contrasts of character exhibited among the pas- 



ELDORADO. 



sengers. Nothing less than a marvel like that of California 
could have brought into juxtaposition so many opposite types of 
human nature. We had an officer of the Navy, blunt, warm- 
hearted and jovial ; a captain in the merchant service, intelligent 
and sturdily-tempered ; Down-Easters, with sharp-set faces — men 
of the genuine stamp, who would be sure to fall on their feet 
wherever they might be thrown ; quiet and sedate Spaniards ; 
hilarious Germans ; and some others whose precise character was 
more difficult to determine. Nothing was talked of but the land 
to which we were bound, nothing read but Fremont's Expedition^ 
Emory's Report, or some work of Rocky Mountain travel. 

After doubling Cape Hatteras, on the second day out, our mu 
notonous life was varied by the discovery of a distant wreck. 
Captain Hartstein instantly turned the Falcon's head towards her, 
and after an hour's run we came up with her. The sea for some 
distance around was strewed with barrels, fragments of bulwarks, 
stanchions and broken spars. She was a schooner of a hundred 
tons, lying on her beam ends and water-logged. Her mainmast 
was gone, the foremast broken at the yard and the bowsprit 
snapped off and lying across her bows. The mass of spars and 
rigging drifted by her side, surging drearily on the heavy sea 
Not a soul was aboard, and we made many conjectures as to their 
fate; 

We lay to off Charleston the fourth night, waiting for the mails, 
which came on board in the morning with a few forlorn-looking 
passengers, sick and weary with twenty-four hours' tossing on the 
swells. In the afternoon we saw Tybee Lighthouse, through tho 
veil of a misty shower The sun set among the jagged piles of a 
broken thunder-cloud, and ribbon-like streaks of lightning darted 
all round the horizon. Our voyage now began to have a real in- 



THE SHORES OF FLORIDA. 3 

terest. With tlie next sunrise, we saw the Lighthouse of St 
Augustine and ran down the shores of Florida, inside the Gulf 
Stream, and close to the edges of the banks of coral. The pas- 
Rengers clustered on the bow, sitting with their feet hanging over 
the guards, and talking of Ponce de Leon, De Soto, and the early 
Spanish adventurers. It was unanimously voted that the present 
days were as wonderful as those, and each individual emigrant en- 
titled to equal credit for daring and enterprise. I found it delighfuJ 
to sit all day leaning over the rails, watching the play of flying-fish 
the floating of purple nautili on the water, or looking ofi" to the 
level line of the shore. Behind a beach of white sand, half a mile 
in breadth and bordered by dense thickets, rise the interminable 
forests of live oak, mangrove and cypress. The monotony of this 
long extent of coast is only broken by an occasional lagoon, where 
the deep green of the woods comes down upon the lighter green 
of the coral shoals, or by the huts of wreckers and their trim, 
duck-like crafts, lying in the offings. The temperature was deli 
cious, with a light, cloudy sky, and a breeze as soft and balmy a» 
that of our northern May. The afternoons commenced with a 
heavy thunder-shower, after which the wind came fresh from the 
land, bringing us a rank vegetable odor from the cypress swamps 
On the morning of July 5th, I took a station on the wheel- 
house, to look out for Cuba. We had left Florida in the night, 
and the waves of the Gulf were around us. The sun, wheeling 
near the zenith, burned fiercely on the water. I glowed at my 
post, but not with his beam. I had reached the flaming boun- 
dary of the Tropics, and felt that the veil was lifting from an 
unknown world. The far rim of the horizon seemed as if it would 
never break into an uneven line. At last, towards noon, Capt. 
Hartstein handed me the ship's glass. I swept the southern dis- 



4 ELDORADO. 

tance, and discerned a single blue, conical peak rising from the 
crater — the well-known Pan of Matanzas. As we drew nearer, 
the Iron Mountains — a rugged chain in the interior — rose, then the 
G:reen hills along the coast, and finally the white beach and bluffs, 
the coral reefs and breakers. The shores were buried in vege- 
tation. The fields of young sugar-cane ran along the slopes; 
palms waved from the hill-tops, and the country houses of plant- 
ers lay deep in the valleys, nestling in orange groves. I drank in 
the land-wind — a combination of all tropical perfumes in one full 
breath of cool air — ^with an enjoyment verging on intoxication, 
while, point beyond point, we followed the enchanting coast. 

We ran under the battlements of the Moro at six o'clock, and 
turning abruptly round the bluff of dark rock on which it is built, 
the magnificent harbor opened inland before us. To the right lay 
the city, with its terraced houses of all light and brilliant colors, 
its spacious public buildings, spires, and the quaint, half-oriental 
pile of its cathedral, in whose chancel repose the ashes of Christo- 
pher Columbus. The immense fortress of the Moro crowned the 
height on our left, the feathery heads of palm-trees peering abovft 
its massive, cream-colored walls. A part of the garrison were going 
through their evening exercises on the beach. Numberless boats 
skimmed about on the water, and a flat ferry-steamer, painted 
green and yellow, was on its way to the suburb of Regoles. 
Around the land-locked harbor, two miles in width, rose green 
hills, dotted with the country palaces of the nobility. Over all 
this charming view glowed the bright hues of a southern sunset. 

On account of the cholera at New York, we were ordered up 
to the Quarantine ground and anchored beside the hulk of an old 
frigate, filled with yellow-fever patients. The Health Officers 
received the mail and ship's papers at the end of a long pole, and 



NIGHT IN HAVANA HARBOR. 



dipped them in a bucket of vinegar. The boats which brought 
us water and vegetables were attended by Cuban soldiers, in white 
uniform, who guarded against all contact with us. Half-naked 
slaves, with the broad, coarse features of the natives of Congo, 
worked at the pump, but even they suffered the rope-end or plank 
which had touched our vessel, to drop in the water before they 
handled it. After sunset, the yellow-fever dead were buiied and 
the beU of a cemetery on shore tolled mournfully at intervals. 
The steamer Isabel, and other American ships, were anchored 
beside us, and a lively conversation between the crews broke the 
stillness of the tropical moonlight resting on the water. Now 
and then they struck into songs, one taking up a new strain as 
the other ceased — in the style of the Venetian gondoliers, but 
with a different effect. " Tasso's echoes" are another thing from 
"the floating scow of old Yirginny." The lights of the city 
gleamed at a distance, and over them the flaming beacon of the 
Moro. Tall palms were dimly seen on the nearer hills, and the 
damp night-air came heavy with the scent of cane-fields, orange 
groves and flowers. 

A voyage across the Gulf is the perfection of sea-traveling. 
After a detention of eighteen hours at Havana, we ran under the 
frowning walls of the Moro, out on its sheet of brilliant blue wa- 
ter, specked with white-caps that leaped to a fresh north-easter. 
The waves are brighter, the sky Softer and purer, the sunsets 
more mellow than on the Atlantic, and the heat, though ranging 
from 88*^ to 95° in the shade, is tempered by a steady and de- 
licious breeze. 

Before catching sight of land, our approach to the Mississippi 
was betrayed by. the water. Changing to a deep, then a muddy 
green, which, even fifteen or twenty miles from shore, rolls its 



6 ELDORADO 

Btratum of fresh water over the bed of denser brinej it needed do 
soundings to tell of land ahead. The light on the South Pass 
was on our starboard at dusk. The arm of the river we entered 
seemed so wide in the uncertain light, that, considering it as one 
of five, my imagination expanded in contemplating the size of the 
single flood, bearing in its turbid waves the snows of mountains 
that look on Oregon, the ice of lakes in Northern Minesota and 
the crystal springs that for a thousand miles gush from the west- 
ern slope of the Alleghanies. When morning came, my excited 
fancies seemed completely at fault. I could scarcely recognize 
the Father of Waters in the tortuous current of brown soap-suds, 
a mile in width, flowing between forests of willow and cypress on 
one side and swamps that stretched to the horizon on the other. 
Everything exhibited the rank growth and speedy decay of tropi 
cal vegetation The river was filled with floating logs, which 
were drifted all along the shore. The trees, especially the 
cypress, were shrouded in gray moss, that hung in long streamers 
from the branches, and at intervals the fallen thatch of some de- 
serted cabin was pushed from its place by shrubbery and wild 
vines. 

Near the city, the shores present a rich and cultivated aspect 
The land is perfectly flat, but the forest recedes, and broad fields 
of sugar cane and maize in ear come down to the narrow levee 
which protects them from the flood. The houses of the planters, 
low, balconied and cool, are buried among orange trees, acacias, 
and the pink blossoms of the crape myrtle. The slave-huts ad- 
joining, in parallel rows, have sometimes small gardens attached, 
but are rarely shaded by trees. 

I found New Orleans remarkably dull and healthy. The city 
was enjoying an interregnum between the departure of the cholera 



NEW ORLEANS. / 

and the arrival of the yellow fever. The crevasse, by which hail 
the city had lately been submerged, was closed, but the effects 
of the inundation were still perceptible in frequent pools of stand- 
ing water, and its scenes daily renewed by incessant showers. 
The rain came down, " not from one lone cloud," but as if a 
thousand cisterns had been stove in at once. In half an hour after 
a shower commenced, the streets were navigable, the back-horse? 
Bplashing their slow way t*hrougb the flood, carrying home a few 
drenched unfortunates. 

The Falcon was detained four days, wbich severely tested the 
temper of my impatient shipmates. I employed the occasional 
gleams of clear weather in rambling over the old French and 
Spanish quarters, riding on the Lafayette Railroad or driving out 
the Shell Road to the cemetery, where the dead are buried above 
ground. The French part of the city is unique and interesting. 
All the innovation is confined to the American Municipalities, 
which resemble the business parts of our Northern cities. The 
curious one-storied dwellings, with jalousies and tiled roofs, of the 
last century, have not been disturbed in the region below Canal 
street. The low houses, where the oleander and crape myrtle 
still look over the walls, were once inhabited by the luxurious 
French planters, but now display such signs as " Magazin dea 
Modes," " Au bon marche," or " Perrot, Coiffeur." Some of 
the more pretending mansions show the jporte co'chere and heavy 
barred windows of the hotels of Paris, and the common taverns, 
with their smoky aspect and the blue blouses that fill them, are 
exact counterparts of some I have seen in the Rue St. Antoine 
The body of the Cathedral, standing at the head of the Place d' 
Amies, was torn down, and workmen were employed in building 
a prison in its stead ; but the front, with its venerable tower and 



8 ELDORADO. 

refreshing appearance of antiquity, will remain, hiding behind its 
changeless face far different passions and darker spectacles than 
in the Past. 

The hour of departure at length arrivqdi The levee opposite 
our anchorage, ift Lafayette City, was thronged with a noisy mul- 
titude, congregated to witness the embarcation of a hundred and 
fifty additional passengers. Our deck became populous with tall^ 
gaunt Mississipians and Arkansans, Missouri squatters who had 
pulled up their stakes yet another time, and an ominous numbei 
of professed gamblers. All were going to seek their fortunes in 
California, but very few had any definite idea of the country or 
the voyage to be made before reaching it. There were among 
them some new varieties of the American — long, loosely-jointed 
men, with large hands and feet and limbs which would stiU be 
awkward, whatever the fashion of their clothes. Their faces were 
lengthened, deeply sallow, overhung by straggling locks of straight 
black hair, and wore an expression of settled melancholy. The 
corners of their mouths curved downwards, the upper lip drawn 
slightly over the under one, giving to the lower part of the face 
that cast of destructiveness peculiar to the Indian. These men 
chewed tobacco at a ruinous rate, and spent their time either in 
dozing at full length on the deck or going into the fore-cabin for 
* drinks.' Each one of them carried arms enough for a small 
company and breathed defiance to all foreigners. 

We had a voyage of seven days, devoid of incident, to the 
Isthmus. During the fourth night we passed between Cuba and 
Yucatan. Then, after crossing the mouth of the Grulf of Hon- 
duras, where we met the south-eastern trades, and running the 
gauntlet of a cluster of coral keys, for the navigation of whi(;h no 
chart can be positively depended upon, we came into the deep 



CHAGRES, FROM THE SEA. 9 

water of the C'aiibbcan Sea. The waves ran high under a diJl 
rain and raw wind, more lite Newfoundland weather than the 
tropics. On the morning of the eighth day, we approached land. 
All hands gathered on deck, peering into the mist for the fii-st 
glimpse of the Isthmus. Suddenly a heavy rain-cloud lifted, and 
we saw, about five miles distant, the headland of Porto Bello — a 
bold, rocky promontory, fringed with vegetation and washed at 
its foot by a line of snowy breakers. The range of the Andes of 
Darien towered high behind the coast, the further summits lost in 
the rain. Turning to the south-west, we followed the magnificent 
sweep of bills toward Chagres, passing Navy Bay, the Atlantic 
terminus of the Panama Railroad. The entrance is narrow, be- 
tween two bold blufis, opening into a fine land-locked harbor, 
surrounded by hills. 

Chagres lies about eight miles to the west of this bay, but thf^ 
mouth of the river is so narrow that the place is not seen till you 
run close upon it. The eastern shore is high and steep, cloven 
with ravines which roll their floods of tropical vegetation down to 
the sea. The old castle of San Lorenzo crowns the point, occu- 
pying a position somewhat similar to the Moro Castle at Havana, 
and equally impregnable. Its brown battlements and embrasures 
have many a dark and stirring recollection. Morgan and his 
buccaneers scaled its walls, took and leveled it, after a figkt in 
which all but thirty-three out of three hundred and fourteen de- 
fenders were slain, some of them leaping madly from the precipice 
mto the sea. Strong as it is by nature, and would be in the hands 
of an enterprising people, it now looks harmless enough with a few 
old cannon lying lazily on its ramparts. The other side of the 
river is flat and marshy, and from our place of anchorage we could 
only see the tops of some huts among the trees. 

1* V 



10 ELDORADO. 

We came to anclior about half past four. The deck was already 
covered with luggage and everybody was anxious to leave first. 
Our captain, clerk, and a bearer of dispatches, were pulled ashore 
in the steamer's boat, and in the meantime the passengers formed 
themselves into small companies for the journey up the river. An 
immense canoe, or " dug-out," manned by half-naked natives 
shortly came out, and the most of the companies managed to get 
agents on board to secure canoes for them. The clerk, on his re- 
turn, was assailed by such a storm of questions — the passengers 
leaning half-way over the bulwarks in their eagerness for news — 
that for a few minutes he could not make himself heard. When 
the clamor subsided, he told us that the Pacific steamer would 
sail from Panama on the 1st of August, and that the only canoes 
to be had that night were already taken by Captain Hartstein, 
who was then making his way up the Rio Chagres, in rain and 
thick darkness. The trunks and blankets were therefore taken 
below again and we resigned ourselves to another night on board, 
with a bare chance of sleep in the disordered state-rooms and 
among the piles of luggage. A heavy cloud on the sea broke out 
momently into broad scarlet flashes of lightning, surpassing any 
celestial pyrotechnics I ever witnessed. The dark walls of San 
Lorenzo, the brilliant clusters of palms on the shore and the 
green, rolling hills of the interior, leaped at intervals out of the 
gloom, as vividly seen as under the noon-day sun. 



CHAPTER II. 



CROSSING THE ISTHMUS. 



I LEFT the Falcon at day-break in the ship's boat. "We rounded 
tlie high bluff on which the castle stands and found beyond it a 
shallow little bay, on the eastern side of which, on low ground, 
stand the cane huts of Chagres. Piling up our luggage on the 
shore, each one set about searching for the canoes which had been 
engaged the night previous, but, without a single exception, the 
natives were not to be found, or when found, had broken their 
bargains. Everybody ran hither and thither in great excitement, 
anxious to be off before everybody else, and hurrying the naked 
boatmen, all to no purpose. The canoes were beached on the 
mud, and their owners engaged in re-thatching their covers with 
split leaves of the palm. The doors of the huts were filled with 
men and women, each in a single cotton garment, composedly 
smoking their cigars, while numbers of children, in Nature's own 
clothing, tumbled about in the sun. Having started without 
breakfast, I went to the " Crescent City" Hotel, a hut with a floor 
to it, but could get nothing. Some of my friends had fared better 
at one of the native huts, and I sat down to the remains of their 
meal, which was spread on a hen-coop beside the door. The pigs 
of the vicinity and several lean dogs surrounded me to offer their 



12 ELDORADO. 

services, but maintained a respectful silence, which is more than 
could be said of pigs at home. Some pieces of pork fat, with 
fresh bread and a draught of sweet spring water from a cocoa 
shell, made me a delicious repast. 

A returning Californian had just reached the place, with a box 
containing $22,000 in gold-dust, and a four-pound lump in one 
hand. The impatience and excitement of the passengers, already 
at a high pitch, was greatly increased by his appearance. Life 
.J and death were small matters compared with immediate departure 
from Chagres. Men ran up and down the beach, shouting, gesti- 
culating, and getting feverishly impatient at the deliberate habits 
of the natives ; as if their arrival in California would thereby be 
at all hastened. The boatmen, knowing very well that two more 
steamers were due the next day, remained provokingly cool and 
unconcerned. They had not seen six months of emigration with- 
out learning something of the American habit of going at full 
speed. The word of starting in use on the Chagres River, is " go- 
ahead !" Captain C and Mr. M , of Baltimore, and 

myself, were obliged to pay $15 each, for a canoe to Cruces. We 
chose a broad, trimly-cut craft, which the boatmen were covering 
with fresh thatch. We stayed with them until all was ready, and 
they had pushed it through the mud and shoal water to the bank 
before Ramos's house. Our luggage was stowed away, we took 
our seats and raised our umbrellas, but the men had gone off for 
provisions and were not to be found. All the other canoes were 
equally in limbo. The sun blazed down on the swampy shores, 
and visions of yellow fever came into the minds of the more timid 
travelers. The native boys brought to us bottles of fresh water, 
biscuits and fruit, presenting them with the words : *' bit !" '' pi- 
cayune !" " Your bread is not good," I said to one of the shirt- 



QUARREL WITH A NATIVE. 13 

less traders -'Si, Senor f"* was his decided answer, while he 
tossed back his childish head with a look of offended dignity which 
charmed me. While sitting patiently in our craft, I was much 
diverted by seeing one of our passengers issue from a hut with a 
native on each arm, and march them resolutely down to the river. 
Our own men appeared towards noon, with a bag of rice and dried 
pork, and an armful of sugar-cane. A few strokes of their broad 
paddles took us from the excitement and noise of the landing-place 
to the seclusion and beauty, of the river scenery. 

Our chief boatman, named Ambrosio Mendez, was of the mixed 
Indian and Spanish race. The second, Juan Crispin Bega, be- 
longed to the lowest class, almost entirely of negro blood. He 
was a strong, jovial fellow, and took such good care of some of our 
small articles as to relieve us from all further trouble about them. 
This propensity is common to all of his caste on the Isthmus. In 
addition to these, a third man was given to us, with the assurance 
that he would work his passage ; but just as we were leaving, we 
learned that he was a runaway soldier, who had been taken up for 
theft and was released on paying some sub-alcalde three bottles of 
liquor, promising to quit the place at once. We were scarcely 
out of sight of the town before he demanded five dollars a day for 
his labor. We refused, and he stopped working. Upon our 
threatening to set him ashore in the jungle, he took up the paddle, 
but used it so awkwardly and perversely that our other men lost 
all patience. We were obliged, however, to wait until we could 
reach Gatun, ten miles distant, before settling matters. Juan 
struck up ** Oh Susanna !" which he sang to a most ludicrous 
imitation of the words, and I lay back under the palm leaves, 
looking out of the sterr of the canoe on the forests of the Chagres 
River 



14 ELDORADO. 

There is nothing in the world comparable to these forests. No 
description that I have ever read conveys an idea of the splendid 
overplus of vegetable life within the tropics. The river, broad, 
and with a swift current of the sweetest water I ever drank, winds 
between walls of foliage that rise from its very surface. All the 
gorgeous growths of an eternal Summer are so mingled in one 
impenetrable mass, that the eye is bewildered. From the rank 
jungle of canes and gigantic lilies, and the thickets of strange 
shrubs that line the water, rise the trunks of the mango, the ceiba, 
the cocoa, the sycamore and the superb palm. Plaintains take 
root in the banks, hiding the soil with their leaves, shaken and 
split into immense plumes by the wind and rain. The zapote, 
with a fruit the size of a man's head, the gourd tree, and other 
vegetable wonders, attract the eye on all sides. Blossoms of 
crimson, purple and yellow, of a form and magnitude unknown in 
the North, are mingled with the leaves, and flocks of paroquets 
and brilliant butterflies circle through the air like blossoms blown 
away. Sometimes a spike of scarlet flowers is thrust forth like 
the tongue of a serpent from the heart of some convolution of un 
folding leaves, and often the creepers and parasites drop trails and 
streamers of fragrance from boughs thaf shoot half-way across the 
river. Every turn of the stream only disclosed another and more 
magnificent vista of leaf, bough and blossom. All outline of the 
landscape is lost under this deluge of vegetation. No trace of the 
Boil is to be seen ; lowland and highland are the same ; a moun- 
tain is but a higher swell of the mass of verdure. As on the 
ocean, you have a sense rather than a perception of beauty. The 
sharp, clear lines of our scenery at home are here wanting. What 
shape the lan/1 would be if cleared, you cannot tell. You gaze 
upon the scene before you with a never-sated delight, till your 



THE VILLAGE OF GATUN. 



brain aches with the sensation, and you close your eyes, over- 
whehned with the thought that all these wonders have been from 
the beginning — that year after year takes away no leaf or blossom 
that is not replaced, but the sublime mystery of growth and decay 
is renewed forever. 

In the afternoon we reached Gatun, a small village of bamboo 
huts, thatched with palm-leaves, on the right bank of the river. 
The canoes which preceded us had already stopped, and the boat- 
men, who have a mutual understanding, had decided to remain 
all night. We ejected our worthless passenger on landing, not- 
withstanding his passive resistance, and engaged a new boatmam 
in his placfi, at |8. I shall never forget the forlorn look of the 
man as he sat on the bank beside hisHbag of rice, as the rain 
began to fall. Ambrosio took us to one of the huts and engaged 
hammocks for the night. Two wooden drums, beaten by boys, in 
another part of the village, gave signs of a coming fandango, and 
as it was Sunday night, all the natives were out in their best 
dresses. They are a very cleanly people, bathing daily, and 
changing their dresses as often as they are soiled. The children 
have their heads shaved from the crown to the neck, and as they 
go about naked, with abdomens unnaturally distended, from an 
exclusive vegetable diet, are odd figures enough. They have 
bright black eyes, and are quick and intelligent in their speech 
and motions. 

The inside of our hut was but a single room, in which all the 
household operations were carried on. A notched pole, serving 
as a ladder, led to a sleeping loft, under the pyramidal roof of 
thatch. Here a number of the emigrants who arrived late were 
stowed away on a rattling floor of cane, covered with hides. After 
a supper of pork and cofi'ee, I made my day's notes by the light 



16 ELDORADO. 

of a miserable starveling candle, stuck in an empty bottle, but had 
not written far before my paper was covered with fleas. The 
owner of the hut swung my hammock meanwhile, and I turned in 
to secure it for the night. To lie there was one thing, to sleep 
another. A dozen natives crowded round the table, drinking 
their aguardiente and disputing vehemently ; the cooking fire was 
on one side of me, and every one that passed to and fro was sure 
to give me a thump, while my weight swung the hammock so low, 
that all the dogs on the premises were constantly rubbing their 
backs under me. I was just sinking into a doze, when my head 
was so violently agitatetHi^at I started up in some alarm. It was 
but a quarrel about payment between the Senora and a boatman, 
one standing on either side. From their angry gestures, my own 
head and not the reckoning, seemed the subject of contention. 

Our men were to have started at midnight, but it was two 
hours later before we could rouse and muster them together. We 
went silently and rapidly up the river till sunrise, when we reached 
a cluster of huts called Dos Hermanos (Two Brothers.) Here 
we overtook two canoes, which, in their anxiety to get ahead, had 
been all night on the river. There had been only a slight shower 
since we started ; but the clouds began to gather heavily, and by 
the time we had gained the ranche of Palo Matida a sudden cold 
wind came over the forests, and the air was at once darkened. 
We sprang ashore and barely reached the hut, a few paces off, 
when the rain broke over us, as if the sky had caved in. A dozen 
lines of white electric heat ran down from the zenith, followed by 
crashes of thunder, which I could feel throbbing in the earth under 
my feet. The rain drove into one side of the cabin and out the 
other, but we wrapped ourselves in India-rubber cloth and kept 
out the wet and chilling air. During the whole day the river rose 



SONGS ON THE RIVER. 17 

ra^)i lly and we were obliged to hug the bank closoly, runniDg 
under the boughs of trees and drawing ourselves up the rapida 
by those that hung low. 

I crept out of the snug nest where we were all stowed as closely 
as three unfledged sparrows, and took my seat between Juan and 
Ambrosio, protected from the rain by an India-rubber poncho 
The clothing of our men was likewise waterproof, but without 
seam or fold. It gave no hindrance to the free play of their 
muscles, as they deftly and rapidly plied the broad paddles 
Juan kept time to the Ethiopian melodies he had picked up from 
the emigrants, looking round from time to time with a grin of 
satisfaction at his skill. I preferred, however, hearing the native 
songs, which the boatmen sing with a melancholy drawl on the 
final syllable of every line, giving the music a peculiar but not 
unpleasant effect, when heard at a little distance. There was 
one, in particular, which he sang with some expression, the re- 
frain running thus : 

" Ten piedad, piedad de mis penas, 
Ten piedad, piedad de mi amor !" 
(Have pity on my sufferings — have pity on my love !) 

Singing begets thirst, and perhaps Juan sang the more that he 
might have a more frequent claim on the brandy. The bottle 
was then produced and each swallowed a mouthful, after which 
he dipped his cocoa shell in the river and took a long draught. 
This is a universal custom among the boatmen, and the traveler 
is obliged to supply them. As a class, they are faithfid, hard- 
working and grateful for kindness. They have faults, the worst 
of which are tardiness, and a propensity to filch small articles ; 
but good treatment wins upon them in almost every case. Juan 



18 ELD014AD0. 

said to me iu the beginning " soy tu amigo yo^^^ {Americanics ; 1 
am thy friend, well I am,) but when he asked me, in turn, for 
every article of clothing I wore, I began to think his friendship 
not the most disinterested. Ambrosio told me that they would 
serve no one well who treated them badly. " If the Americans 
are good, we are good ; if they abuse us, we are bad. We are 
black, but muchos cabalUros^'' (very much of gentlemen,) said 
he. Many blustering fellows, with their belts stuck full of pistols 
and bowie-knives, which they draw on all occasions, but take 
good care not to use, have brought reproach on the country by 
their silly conduct. It is no bravery to put a revolver to the 
head of an unarmed and ignorant native, and the boatmen have 
sense enough to be no longer terrified by it. 

We stopped the second night at Pena Blanca, (the White 
Rock,) where I slept in the loft of a hut, on the floor, in the 
midst of the family and six other travelers. We started at sun- 
rise, hoping to reach Gorgona the same night, but ran upon a 
simken log and were detained some time. Ambrosio finally re- 
leased us by jumping into the river and swimming ashore with a 
rope in his teeth. The stream was very high, running at least five 
miles an hour, and we could only stem it with great labor. We 
passed the ranches of Agua Salud, Yarro Colorado and Palan- 
quilla, and shortly after were overtaken by a storm on the river. 
We could hear the rush and roar of the rain, as it came towards 
us like the trampling of myriad feet on the leaves. Shooting 
under a broad sycamore we made fast to the boughs, covered our- 
Bclves with India-rubber, and lay under our cool, rustling thatch 
of palm, until the storm had passed over. 

The character of the scenery changed somewhat as we ad- 
vanced. The air was purer, and the banks more bold and steep. 



A priest's household. 19 

The country showed more signs of cultivation, and in many places 
the forest had been lopped away to make room for fields of maize, 
plantain and rice. But the vegetation was still that of the 
tropics and many were the long and lonely reaches of the river .^ 
where we glided between piled masses of bloom and greenery. I 
remember one spot, where, from the crest of a steep hiU to the 
edge of the water, descended a flood, a torrent of vegetation 
Trees were rolled upon trees, woven into a sheet by parasitic vines, 
that leaped into the air like spray, from the topmost boughs. 
When a wind slightly agitated the sea of leaves, and the vines 
were flung like a green foam on the surface of the river, it was 
almost impossible not to feel that the flood was about rushing 
down to overwhelm us. 

We stopped four hours short of Grorgona, at the hacienda of 
San Pablo, the residence of Padre Dutaris, cure of all the in- 
terior. Ambrosio took us to his house by a path across a rolling, 
open savanna, dotted by palms and acacias of immense size. 
Herds of cattle and horses were grazing on the short, thick-leaved 
grass, and appeared to be in excellent condition. The padre 
owns a large tract of land, with a thousand head of stock, and his 
ranche commands a beautiful view up and down the river. Am- 
brosio was acquainted with his wife, and by recommending us as 
buenos caballeroSy procured us a splendid supper of fowls, eggs, 
rice boiled in cocoa milk, and chocolate, with baked plantains for 
bread. Those who came after us had difficulty in getting any- 
thing. The padre had been frequently cheated by Americans 
and was therefore cautious. He was absent at the time, but his 
eon Felipe, a boy of twelve years old, assisted in doing the honors 
with wonderful grace and self-possession. His tawny skin was 
as soft as velvet, and his black eyes sparkled like jewels He is 



20 ELDORADO. 

almost the only living model of the Apollmo that I ever saw. Be 
Bat in the hammock with me, leaning over my shoulder as I noted 
down the day's doings, and when I had done, wrote his name in 
my book, in an elegant hand. I slept soundly in the midst of an 
uproar, and only awoke at four o'clock next morning, to hurry 
our men in leaving for G-orgona. . 

The current was very strong and in some places it was almost 
impossible to make headway. Our boatmen worked hard, and by 
dint of strong poling managed to jump through most difficult 
places. Their naked, sinewy forms, bathed in sweat, shone like 
polished bronze. Ambrosio was soon exhausted, and lay down ; 
but Miguel, our corps de reserve^ put his agile spirit into the 
work and flung himself upon the pole with such vigor that all the 
muscles of his body quivered as the boat shot ahead and relaxed 
them. About half-way to Grorgona we rounded the foot of Monte 
Carabali, a bold peak clothed with forests and crowned with a 
single splendid palm. This hill is the only one in the province 
from which both oceans may be seen at once. 

As we neared Grorgona, our men began repeating the ominous 
words : " Cruces — muchacoleray We had, in fact, already heard 
of the prevalence of cholera there, but doubted, none the less, 
their wish to shorten the journey. On climbing the bank to the 
village, I called immediately at the store of Mr. Miller, the only 
American resident, who informed me that several passengers by 
the Falcon had already left for Panama, the route being reported 
passable. In the door of the alcalde's house, near at hand, I 
met Mr. Powers, who had left New York a short time previous 
to my departure, and was about starting for Panama on foot, 
mules being very scarce. While we were deliberating whether to 
go on to Cruces, Ambrosio beckoned me into an adjoining hut 



AN AFFECTIONAlii BOATMAN. 21 

The owner, a very vcneraLle and dignified native, received me 
swinging in his hammock. He had six horses which he would 
furnish us the next morning, at ^10 the head for riding animals, 
and $6 for each 100 lbs, of freight. The bargain was instantly 
concluded. 

Now came the settlement with our boatmen. In addition to 
the fare, half of which was paid in Chagres, we had promised 
them a gratificacion^ provided they made the voyage in three 
days. The contract was not exactly fulfilled, but tve thought it 
best to part friends and so gave them each a dollar. Their an- 
tics of delight were most laughable. They grinned, laughed, 
danced, caught us by the hands, vowed eternal friendship and 
would have embraced us outright, had we given them the least 
encouragement. Half an hour afterwards I met Juan, in a clean 
shirt and white pantaloons. There was a heat in his eye and a 
ruddiness under his black skin, which readily explained a little 
incoherence in his speech. " Mi amigo .'" he cried, " mi buen 
amigo ! give me a bottle of beer !" I refused. '' But," said 
he, " we are friends ; surely you will give your dear friend a 
bottle of beer." " I don't like my dear friends to drink too 
much ;" I answered. Finding I would not humor him, as a last 
resort, he placed both hands on his breast, and with an imploring 
look, sang : 

** Ten piedad, piedad de mis penas, 
Ten piedad, piedad de mi amor !" 

I burst into a laugh at this comical appeal, and he retreated, 
satisfied that he had at least done a smai^ thing. 

During the afternoon a number of canoes arrived, and as it 
grew dark the sound of the wooden drums proclaimed a fandango 



82 ELDORADO. 

The aristocracy of Grorgona met in the Alcalde's house ; the 
plehs on a level sward before one of the huts. The dances were 
the same, but there was some attempt at style by the former 
class* The ladies were dressed in white and pink, with flowers in 
their hair, and waltzed with a slow grace to the music of violins 
and guitars. The Alcalde's daughters were rather pretty, and at 
once became favorites of the Americans, some of whom joined in 
the fandango, and went through its voluptuous mazes at the first 
trial, to the great delight of the natives. The Seiiora Catalina, a 
rich widow, of pure Andalusian blood, danced charmingly. Her 
little head was leaned coquettishly on one side, while with one hand 
she held aloft the fringed end of a crimson scarf, which rested 
lightly on the opposite shoulder. The dance over, she took a 
guitar and sang, the subject of her song being "Zos amigos 
Americanos.''^ There was less sentiment, but more jollity, at the 
dances on the grass. The only accompaniment to the wooden 
drums was the " na^ nft^ na^'^ of the women, a nasal monotone, 
which few ears have nerve to endure. Those who danced 
longest and with the most voluptuous spirit, had the hats of all 
the others piled upon them, in token of applause. These half- 
barbaric orgies were fully ^seen in the pure and splendid light 
poured upon the landscape from a vertical moon. 

Next morning at daybreak our horses — tough little mustangs, 
which I could almost step over — were at the door. We started 
off with a guide, trusting our baggage to the honesty of our host, 
who promised to send it the same day. A servant of the Alcalde 
escorted us out of the village, cut us each a good stick, pocketed 
a real and then left us to plunge into the forests. The path at 
the outset was bad enough, but as the wood grew deeper and 
darker and the tough clay soil held the rains whieh had fallen, it 



RIDING THROUGH THE FORESTS. 



became finally a narrow gully, filled with mud nearly to our horst-H' 
bellies. Descending the steep sides of the hills, they would step 
or slide down almost precipitous passes, bringing up all straight 
at the bottom, and climbing the opposite sides like cats. So 
strong is their mutual confidence that they invariably step in each 
other's tracks, and a great part of the road is thus worn into holes 
three feet deep and filled with water and soft mud, which spirts 
upward as they go, coating the rider from head to foot. 

The mountain range in the interior is broken and irregular. 
The road passes over the lower ridges and projecting spurs of the 
main chain, covered nearly the whole distance to Panama by dense 
forests. Above us spread a roof of transparent green, through 
which few rays of the sunlight fell. The only sounds in that leafy 
wilderness were the chattering of monkeys as they cracked the 
palm-nuts, and* the scream of parrots, flying from tree to tree. In 
the deepest ravines spent mules frequently lay dead, and high 
above them, on the large boughs, the bald vultures waited silently 
for us to pass. We overtook many trains of luggage, packed on 
the backs of bulls and horses, tied head-to-tail in long files. At 
intervals, on the road, we saw a solitary ranche, with a cleared 
space about it, but all the natives could furnish us was a cup of 
thick, black coifee. 

After ascending for a considerable distance, in the first half of 
our journey, we came to a level table-land, covered with palms, 
with a higher ridge beyond it. Our horses climbed it with some 
labor, went down the other side through clefts and gullies 
which seemed impassable, and brought us to a stream of milky 
blue water, which, on ascertaining its course with a compass, I 
"bund to be a tributary of the Kio Grande, flowing into the Pacific at 
Panama We now hoped the worst part of our route was over, 



24 tLDORADO. 

but this was a terrible deception. Scrambling up ravines of 
slippery clay, we went for miles through swamps and thickets, 
urging forward our jaded beasts by shouting and beating. Going 
down a precipitous bank, washed soft by the rains, my horse 
slipped and made a descent of ten feet, landing on one bank and 
T on another. He rose quietly, disengaged his head from the 
mud and stood, flank-deep, waiting till I stepped across his back 
and went forward, my legs lifted to his neck. This same adven 
ture happened several times to each of us on the passage across. 

As we were leaving Gorgona, our party was joined by a long 
Mississippian, whose face struck me at the first glance as being pe- 
culiarly cadaverous. He attached himself to us without the least 
ceremony, leaving his own party behind. We had not ridden far 
before he told us he had felt symptoms of cholera during the night, 
and was growing worse. We insisted on his returning to Gorgona 
at once, but he refused, saying he was " bound to go through." 
At the first ranche on the road we found another kaveler, lying 
on the ground in a state of entire prostration. He was attended 
by a friend, who seemed on the point of taking the epidemic, from 
his very fears. The sight of this case no doubt operated on the 
Mississippian, for he soon became so racked with pain as to keep 
his seat with great difficulty. We were alarmed ; it was impos- 
sible to stop in the swampy forest, and equally impossible to leave 
him, new that all his dependence was on us. The only thing re- 
sembling medicine in our possession, was a bottle of claret. It 
was an unusual remedy for cholera, but he insisted on drinking it. 

After urging forward our weary beasts till late in the afternoon, 
we were told that Panama was four hours further. We pitied the 
poor horses, but ourselves more, and determined to push ahead. 
After a repetition of all our worst experience, we finally struct 



WE REACH PANAMA. 25 

the remains of the paved road constructed by the buccaneers when 
th.2j held Panama. I now looked eagerly forward for the Pacific, 
but every ridge showed another in advance, and it grew dark with 
a rain coming up Our horses avoided the hard pavement and 
took by-paths through thickets higher than our heads The cho- 
lera-stricken emigrant, nothing helped by the claret he drank, 
nnplored us, amid his groans, to hasten forward. Leaning over 
the horse's neck, he writhed on his saddle in an agony of pain, 
and seemed on the point of falling at every step. We were far in 
advance of our Indian guide and lost the way more than once in 
the darkness. At last he overtook us, washed his feet in a mud- 
hole, and put on a pair of pantaloons. This was a welcome sign 
to us, and in fact, we soon after smelt the salt air of the Pacific, 
and could distinguish huts on either side of the road. These gave 
place to stone houses and massive ruined edifices, overgrown with 
vegetation. We passed a plaza and magnificent church, rode 
down an open space fronting the bay, under a heavy gate-way, 
across another plaza and through two or three narrow streets, 
hailed by Americans all the way with : " Are you the Falcon's 
passengers P^ " From Gorgona .^" " From Cruces .^" till our 
guide brought us up at the Hotel Anaericano. 

Thus termmated my five days' journey across the Isthmus — 
decidedly more novel, grotesque and adventurous than any trip 
of similar length in the world. It was rough enough, but had 
nothing that I could exactly call hardship, so much was the fa- 
tigue balanced by the enjoyment of unsurpassed scenery and a 
continual sensation of novelty. In spite of the many dolorous 
accounts which have been sent from the Isthmus, there is nothing, 
at the worst season, to deter any one from the journey. 

VOL I. 2 



CHAPTER III. 



SCENES IN PANAMA 



I SAW less of Panama than I could have wished. A few hasty 
rambles through its ruined convents and colleges and grass-grown 
plazas — a stroll on its massive battlements, lumbered with idle 
cannon, of the splendid bronze of Barcelona — were all that I could 
accomplish in the short stay of a day .ind a half. Its situation at 
the base of a broad, green mountain, with the sea washing three 
sides of the narrow promontory on which it is built, is highly pic- 
turesque, yet some other parts of the bay seem better fitted for 
the purposes of commerce. Vessels of heavy draught cannot 
anchor within a mile and a half of the city, and there is but one 
point where embarkation, even in the shallow " dug-outs" of the 
natives, is practicable. The bottom of the bay is a bed of rock, 
which, at low tide, lies bare far out beyond the ramparts. The 
south-eastern shore of the bay belongs to the South-American 
( -ontinent, and the range of lofty mountains behind it is constantly 
wreathed with light clouds, or shrouded from view by the storms 
tvhich it attracts. To the west the green islands of Taboga, and 
others, rise behind one another, interrupting the blue curve of the 
watery horizon. The city was already half American. The na- 
tive boys whistled Yankee Doodlo through the streets, and .Se- 



PANAMA EMIGRANTS ARRIVING. 37 

ftoritas of the pure Castilian blood sang the Ethiopian melodies 
of Virginia to their guitars. Nearly half the faces seen were 
American, and the signs on shops of all kinds appeared in our 
language. On the morning after I arrived, I heard a sudden 
rumbling in the streets, and observing a general rush to the win- 
dows, followed the crowd in time to see the first cart made m 
Panama — the work of a Yankee mechanic, detained for want of 
money to get further. 

We found the hotels doing a thriving business, though the fare 
and attendance were alike indifferent. We went to bed, immedi- 
ately after reaching the Hotel Americano, that our clothes might 
be washed before morning, as our luggage had not arrived. 
Nearly all the passengers were in a similar predicament. Some 
ladies, who had ridden over from. Cruces in male attire, a short 
tune previous, were obliged to sport theii* jackets and pantaloons 
several days before receiving their dresses. Our trust in the 
venerable native at Gorgona was not disappointed ; the next 
morning his mule was at the door, laden with our trunks and 
valises. Some of the passengers, however, were obliged to re- 
main in Panama another month, since, notwithstanding the formal 
contract of the Alcalde of Grofgona, their luggage did not arrive 
before the sailing of the steamer. 

The next day nearly all of our passengers came in. There had 
been a heavy rain during the night, and the Grorgona road, already 
next^ to impassable, became actually perilous. A lady from 
Maine, who made the journey alone, was obliged to ford a torrent 
of water above her waist, with a native on each side, to prevent 
her from being carried away. A French lady who crossed was 
washed from her mule, and only got over by the united exertiona 
of seven men. 



28 ELDORADO. 

The roads from Cruces and Gorgona enter on the eastern side 
of the city, as well as the line of tb*^. railroad survey. The 
latter, after leaving Limon Bay, runs on the north side of the 
Chagres River till it reaches Grorgona, continuing thence to Pa- 
nama in the same general course as the mule route. It will 
probably be extended down the Bay to some point opposite the 
island of Taboga, which is marked out by Nature as the future 
anchorage ground and depot of all the lines touching at Panama. 
The engineers of the survey accomplished a great work in fixing 
the route within so short a space of time. The obstacles to be 
overcome can scarcely be conceived by one who has never seen 
tropical vegetation or felt tropical rains. The greatest difficulty 
in constructing the road is the want of stone, though this is in 
some degree supplied by abundance of lignum-vitae and other dur- 
able wood. The torrents of rain during the summer season wil^ 
require the side-hill cuttings to be made of unusual strength. 
The estimated cost of the road appears small, especially when the 
value of labor is taken into consideration. The natives are not 
to be depended on, and there is some risk in taking men from the 
United States half way to California. 

Panama is one of the most picturesque cities on the American 
Continent. Its ruins — if those could be called ruins which were 
never completed edifices — and the seaward view from its ram- 
parts, on a bright morning, would ravish the eye of an artist 
Although small in lunit, old and terribly dilapidated, its situa- 
tion and surroundings are of unsurpassable beauty. There is onti 
angle of the walls where you can look out of a cracked watch- 
tower on the sparkling swells of the Pacific, ridden by flocks of 
snow-white pelicans and the rolling canoes of the natives — where 
your vision, following the entire curve of the Gulf, takes in on 



RUINED CHURCHES 29 

either side nearly a hundred miles of shoie. The ruins of the 
Jesuit Church of San Felipe, through which 1 was piloted by m^ 
frien'd, Lieutenant Beale, reminded me of the Baths of Caracalla. 
The majestic arclies spanning the nave are laden with a wilder- 
ness of shrubbery and wild vines which fall like a fringe to the 
veiy floor. The building is roofless, but daylight can scarcely 
steal in through the embowering leaves." Several bells, of a sweet, 
silvery ring, are propped up by beams, in a dark corner, but from 
the look of the place, ages seem to have passed since they called 
the crafty brotherhood to the oracion. A splendid College, left 
incomplete many years ago, fronts on one of the plazas. Its Cor- 
inthian pillars and pilasters of red sandstone are broken and 
crumbling, and from the crevices at their base spring luxuriant 
bananas, shooting their large leaves through the windows and fold- 
ing them around the columns of the gateway. 

There were about seven hundred emigrants waiting for passage, 
when I reached Panama. All the tickets the steamer could pos- 
sibly receive had been issued and so great was the anxiety to get 
on, that double price, $600, was frequently paid for a ticket to 
San Francisco. A few days before we came, there was a most 
violent excitement on the subject, and as the only way to terminate 
the dispute, it was finally agreed to dispose by lot of all the tick- 
ets for sale. The emigrants were all numbered, and those with 
tickets for sailing vessels or other steamers excluded. The re- 
mainder then drew, there being fifty-two tickets to near three 
hundred passengers. This quieted the excitement for the time, 
though there was still a continual under-current of speculation 
and intrigue which was curious to observe. The disappointed 
candidates, for the most part, took passage in sailing vessels, with 
a prospect of seventy days' voyage before them. A few months 



80 ELDORADO 

previous, when three thousand persons were waiting on the Isih 
mus, several small companies started in the log canoes of the 
natives, thinking to reach San Francisco in them ! After a' voy- 
age of forty days, during which they went no fuither than the 
Island of Quibo, at the mouth of the Gulf, nearly all of them re- 
turned ; the rest have not since been heard of. 

The passengers were engaged in embarking all the afternoon of 
the second day after my arrival. The steamer came up to wilhin 
a mile and a half of the town, and numbers of canoes plied be- 
tween her and the sea-gateway. Native porters crowded about 
the hotels, clamoring for luggage, which they carried down to the 
shore under so fervent a heat that I was obliged to hoist my 
umbrella. One of the boatmen lifted me over the swells for the 
sake of a medio ^ and I was soon gliding out along the edge of the 
breakers, startling the pelicans that flew in long lines over the 
watei>. I was well satisfied to leave Panama at the time ; the 
cholera, which had already carried ofl" one-fourth of the native 
population, was making havoc among the Americans, and several 
of the Falcon's passengers lay at the point of death. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE PACIFIC COAST OF MEXICO. 

The (bllowing morning, at eleven o'clock, the last canoe-load 
of mails came on board. Ten minutes afterwards our parting 
gun was fired, and its echoes had not died away when the paddles 
were in motion and the boat heading for Taboga. "We ran past 
several steep volcanic islands, matted in foliage, and in an hour 
came-to before Taboga, which is to Panama what Capri is to 
Naples, only that it is far more beautiful. In the deep ana 
secure roadstead one may throw a stone from the ship's deck ^'"^ito 
the gardens of orange and tamarind fringing the beach. The 
village lies beside a cocoa grove in a sheltered corner, at the foot 
of hills which rise in terraces of luxuriant vegetation to the 
height of a thousand feet. The mass of palm, cocoa, banana 
and orange trees is unbroken from the summit to the water's 
edge. The ravine behind the village contains an unfailing spring 
of sweet water, from which all vessels touching at Panama are 
supplied. The climate is delightful and perfectly healthy. 

The steamer Oregon was lying high and dry on the beach, 
undergoing repairs, having injured her keel by running on a rock 
during the voyage down. The remarkable adaptation of Taboga 
for a dry dock was shown by the fact that while at high tide the 



32 ELDORADO. 

Oregon floated, at low tide one might walk around her on dry 
ground ; by building two walls and a gate in front, the dry dock 
would be complete. This is the only place between Cape Horn 
and San Francisco where such a thing is possible. Those un- 
rivaled advantages, as well as the healthiness of Taboga and its 
splendid scenery, point it out as the stopping-place for steamers 
and passengers, if not the commercial depot of this part of the 
Pacific. 

A voyage from Panama to San' Francisco in the year 1849, -can 
hardly be compared to sea-life in any other part of the world or 
at any previous period. Our vessel was crowded fore and aft : 
exercise was rendered quite impossible and sleep was each night 
a new experiment, for the success of which we were truly grateful 
We were roused at daylight by the movements on deck, if not 
earlier, by the breaking of a hammock-rope and the thump and 
yell of the unlucky sleeper. Coffee was served in the cabin ; but, 
as many of the passengers imagined that, because they had paid a 
high price for their tickets, they were conscientiously obligated to 
drink three cups, the late-comers got a very scanty allowance. 
The breakfast hour was nine, and the table was obliged to be fully 
•set twice. At the first tingle of the bell, all hands started as if a 
shot had exploded among them ; conversation was broken off in 
the middle of a word ; the deck was instantly cleared, and the 
passengers, tumbling pell-mell down the cabiii-stairs, found every 
seat taken by others who had probably been sitting in them for 
half an hour. The bell, however, had an equally convulsive effect 
upon these. There was a confused grabbing motion for a few 
seconds, and lo ! the plates were cleared. A chicken parted in 
twain as if by magic, each half leaping into an opposite plate , 
a dish of sweet potatoes vanished before a single hand ; beefsteak 



MEAL-TIME ON THE STEAMER. S'^, 

flew in all dii-ections ; and while about half the passengers had al) 
their breakfast piled at once upon their plates, the other half were 
regaled bj a " plentiful lack." The second table was but a repe- 
tition of these scenes, which dinner — our only additional meal — 
renewed in the afternoon. To prevent being driven, in self-defence, 
into the degrading habit, eight of us secured one end of the second 
table, shut off by the mizen-mast from the long arms that might 
otherwise have grabbed our share. Among our company of two 
hundred and fifty, there were,\)f course, many gentlemen of marked 
refinement and intelligence from various parts of the Union — 
enough, probably, to leaven the large lump of selfishness and 
blackguardism into which we were thrown. I believe the control- 
ling portion of the California emigration is intelligent, orderly and 
peaceable ; yet I never witnessed so many disgusting exhibitions 
of the lowest passions of humanity, as during the voyage. At sea 
or among the mountains, men completely lose the little arts of dis- 
simulation they practise in society. They show in their true light, 
and very often, alas ! in a light little calculated to encourage the 
enthusiastic believer in the speedy perfection of our race. 

The day after leaving Panama we were in sight of the 
promontory of Veraguas and the island of Quibo, off Central 
America. It is a grand coast, with mountain ranges piercing the 
clouds. Then, for several days, we gave the continent a wide 
berth, our course making a chord to the arc of the Gulf of 
Tehuantepec. The sea was perfectly tranquil, and we were not 
molested by the inexorable demon that lodges in the stomachs of 
landsmen. Why has never a word been said or sung about 
sunset on the Pacific ? Nowhere on this earth can one be over- 
vaulted with such a glory of colors. The sky, with a ground-hue 
Df rose towards the west and purple towards the east, is mottled ' 
2* 



34 ELDORADO 

and flecked over all its surface with light clouds, running through 
every shade of crimson, amber, violet and russet-gold. There is 
no dead duskiness opposite the sunken sun ; the whole vast shell 
of the firmament glows with an equal radiance, reduplicating its 
hues on the glassy sea, so that we seem floating in a hollow sphere 
of prismatic crystal. The cloud-strata, at different heights in 
the au', take different coloring ; through bars of burning carmine 
one may look on the soft, rose-purple folds of an inner curtain, 
and, far within and beyond that, on the clear amber-green of the 
immaculate sky. As the light diminishes, these radiant vapors 
sink and gather into flaming pyramids, between whose pinnacles 
the serene depth of air is of that fathomless violet-green which 
we see in the skies of Titian. 

The heat, during this part of the voyage, was intolerable. 
The thermometer ranged from 82° to 84^ at night, and 86° to 
90*^ by day — a lower temperature than we frequently feel in the 
North, but attended by an enervating languor such as I never 
before experienced. Under its influence one's energies flag, 
active habits of mind are thrown aside, the imagination grows 
faint and hazy, the very feelingS; and sensibilities are melted and 
weakened. Once, I panted for the heat and glare and splendid 
luxuriance of tropical lands, till I almost made the god of the 
Persians my own. I thought some southern star must have been 
in the ascendant at my birth, some glowing instinct of the South 
been infused into my nature. Two months before, the thought of 
riding on that summer sea, with the sun over the mast-head, 
would have given a delicious glow to my fancy. But all my vision 
of life in the tropics vanished before the apathy engendered by 
this heat. The snowy, bleak and sublime North beckoned me 
• like a mirage over tlie receding seas Gods ! how a single sough 



A MIDNIGHT CALL AT ACAPULCO. 3ft 

of keen north-west wind down some mountain gorge would have 
beaten a march of exulting energy to my spirit ! how my veins 
would have tingled to the sound, and my nerves stiffened in the 
healthy embraces of that ruder air ! 

After a week of this kind of existence we passed the sun's 
latitude, and made the mountains of Mexico. The next night 
we came-to at the entrance of the harbor of Acapulco, while the 
ship's boat went to the city, some two miles distant. In about 
two hours it returned, bringing us word that thirty or forty 
Americans were waiting passage, most ot wnom were persons who 
had left Panama in the Humboldt in March, and who had already 
been three months in port. Captain Bailey determined to take 
them on board, and the Panama felt her way in through the 
dark, narrow entrance. 

It was midnight. The beautiful mountain-locked basin on 
which Acapulco is built was dimly visible under the clouded 
moon, but I could discern on one side the white walls of the 
Fort on a rocky point, with the trees of the Alameda behind 
it, and still further the lights of the town glittering along the hill. 
As we approached the Fort we were hailed, but as a response 
was not immediately made the light was suddenly ex(;inguished. 
Some one called out ^'-fuero ! fuero .'" (outside !) and our boat, 
which had been sent out a second time, returned, stating that a 
file of soldiers drawn up on the beach had opposed any landing. 
It was followed by another, with four oars, containing a messen 
ger from the Governor, who announced to us, in good English, 
that we were not allowed to come so near the town, but must lie 
off in the channel; the cholera, they had learned, wasatPanama^ 
and quarantine regulations had been established at Acapulco 
This order was repeated, and the Panama then moved to the other 



36 ELDORADO. 

side of the harbor The boat, however, came out again, 
bringing a declaration from the Governor that if we did not 
instantly fall back to a certain channel between two islands, we 
should be fired upon. Rather than get into a quarrel with the 
alarmed authorities or be subjected to delay, we got under way 
again, and by sunrise were forty miles nearer San Bias. 

We had on board a choice gang of blacklegs, among whom 
were several characters of notoriety in the United States, going 
out to extend the area of their infernal profession. About a 
dozen came on from * NW Orleans by the Falcon and as many 
from New York by the Crescent City. They established a branch 
at Panama, immediately on their arrival, and two or three 
remained to take charge of it. They did not commence very 
fortunately ; their first capital of $500 having been won in one 
night by a lucky padre. Most of them, with the devil's luck, 
drew prizes in the ticket lottery, while worthy m*en were left 
behind. After leaving Acapulco, they commenced playing monte 
on the quarter-deck, and would no doubt have entrapped some 
unwary passengers, had not the Captain put a stop to their 
operations. These characters have done much, by their conduct 
on the Isthmus and elsewhere, to earn for us the title of 
"Northern barbarians," and especially, by wantonly offending 
the religious sentiment of the natives. I was told of four who 
entered one of the churches with their hats pulled fast over their 
brows, and, marching deliberately up the aisle, severally lighted 
their cigars at the four tapers of the altar. The class was known 
to all on board and generally shunned. 

There is another class of individuals whom I would recommend 
travelers to avoid. I saw several specimens on the Isthmus. 
They are miserable, melancholy men, ready to yield up their last 



THE MEXICAN COAST. 37 

breath at any moment. They left home prematurely, and now 
humbly acknowledge their error. They were not made for travel- 
ing, but they did not know it before. If you would dig a hole 
and lay them in it, leaving only their heads above ground, they 
wo^old be perfectly contented. Let them alone ; do not even 
express your sympathy. Then their self-pity will change to in- 
dignation at your cold-heartedness, and they will take care of 
themselves for very spite. 

Our track, now, was along and near the coast — a succession of 
lofty mountain ranges, rising faint and blue through belts of 
cloud. Through a glass, they appeared rugged and abrupt, scarred 
with deep ravines and divided by narrow gorges, yet exhibiting, 
nearly to their summits, a rich clothing of forests. The shore is 
U"on-bound and lined with breakers, yet there are many small bays 
and coves which afford shelter to fishing and coasting vessels and 
support a scanty population. The higher peaks of the inland 
chain are occasionally seen when the atmosphere is clear. One 
morning the Volcano of Colima, distant ninety miles " as the 
bird flies," came into sight, shooting its forked summits far above 
the nearer ranges. It is in the province of Jalisco, near Lake 
Chapala, and is 16,000 feet in height — a greater than Mount 
Blanc ! I was delighted with Cuba and the Isthmus, but forgot 
them at once when I viewed the grand outline of this coast, the 
only approach to which is seen in the Maritime Alps, on leaving 
Genoa. " 

On the third morning from Acapulco, we saw the lofty group 
of mountains bounding the roadstead of San Bias on the East. 
The islands called Las Tres Marias were visible, ten miles dis- 
tant, on our left. They are too small and scattering to break the 
fieavy seas and " southers" which come in to the very end of the 



38 ELDORADO 

bight on which San Bias is built. Vessels of light draught may 
run across a narrow bar between breakers and find safe anchor- 
age in a little inlet on the northern side, but those which are 
obliged to lie in the open road are exposed to considerable danger. 
A high white rock, of singular form, about a quarter of a mile 
from the shore, serves as a landmark for vessels. The village 
which is a little larger than Chagres, and like it a collection of 
cane huts with a few stone houses, lies on one side of the inlet 
before mentioned, on flat swampy ground, and surrounded by rank 
forests and jungles. A mile behind it, on a high, precipitous 
rock, is the Presidio of San Bias, now almost deserted, all busi- 
ness being transacted at the village on shore. •• 

We came-to, a mile from the place, and were soon after visited 
by the Alcalde, who, after exchanging the ordinary courtesies in- 
formed us there were plenty of provisions on shore, and departed, 
saying nothing of quarantine. A flock of cayucas, paddled by 
the natives, followed him and swarmed around us, ready to take 
passengers at three rials apiece. Three or four of us took one of 
these craft, and were paddled ashore, running on the edge of the 
breakers which roared and dashed along the mouth of the inlet. 
We landed on a beach, ancle-deep in sand and covered with mus- 
tangs, mules and donkeys, with a sprinkling of natives. Our 
passengers were busy all over the village, lugging strings of 
bananas and plantains, buying cool water-jars of porous earth, 
gathering limes and oranges from the trees, or regaling themselves 
at the fondas with fresh spring-water, (not always unmixed,) 
tortillas and fried pork. Several gentlemen who had come over- 
land from Vera Cruz, awaited our arrival, and as the place was 
very unhealthy they were not long in embarking 

In company with some friends, I set out for the old Presidio 



THE OLD PRESIDIO OF SAN BLAS. 3S 

on the cliff The road led through swampy forests till we reached 
the foot of the ascent. A native passed us, on a sharp-trotting 
mule : " DoTide va, homhre V " Tejpic,'''* was his answer. Up 
we went, scrambling over loose stones, between banana thickets 
and flowering shrubs, till we gained a rocky spur near the summit 
Here the view to the north, toward Mazatlan, was very fine 
Across the marshy plain many leagues in breadth, bordering the 
Bea, we traced the Kio Grande of the West by the groves of syca- 
more on its banks ; beyond it another lateral chain of the Sierra 
Madre rose to the clouds. Turning again, we entered a deserted 
court-yard, fronted by the fort, which had a covered gallery on the 
inside. The walls were broken down, the deep wells in the rock 
choked up and the stone pillats and gateways overrun with rank 
vines. From the parapet, the whole roadstead of San Bias lay 
at our feet, and our steamer, two miles off, seemed to be within 
hail. 

This plaza opened on another and larger one, completely covered 
with tall weeds, among which the native pigs rooted and meditated 
by turns. A fine old church, at the farther end, was going to ruin, 
and the useless bells still hung in its towers. Some of the houses 
were inhabited, and we procured from the natives fresh water and 
delicious bananas. The aspect of the whole place, picturesque in 
its desolation, impressed me more than anything on the journey, 
except the chui'ch of San Felipe, at Panama. The guns of the 
Presidio were spiked by Commander Dupont, during the war ; 
there has been no garrison there for many years. 

We descended again, made our purchases of fruit, and reached 
the beach just as the steamer's gun signalized us to return. The 
?ayuca in which we embarked was a round log, about ten feet long, 
rolling over the swells with a ticklish facility. We lay flat in 



40 ELDORADO. 

the bottom, not daring to stir hand or foot for fear of losing 
the exact balance which kept us upright, and finally reached the 
gangway, where we received a sound cursing from one of the 
ship's crew for trusting ourselves in such a craft A dozen 
others, pulling for life, came, behind us, followed by a launch 
bringing two live bullocks for our provender. A quarrel broke 
out between one of our new passengers and a native, in which 
blows were exchanged. The question was then raised " whether 
a nigger was as good as a white man," and like the old feuds of 
the Bianchi and the Neri in Tuscany, the contest raged fiercely 
for the rest of the day. 

The morning mist rose from the summits of the Sierra Madre 
of Durango. As we neared Mazatkn, a light smoke was discerned 
far on our left ; and we had not been long in the harbor before the 
California came rounding in, her passengers cheering us as she 
passed and dropped anchor between us and the town. She looked 
somewhat weather-beaten, but was a pleasant sight to our eyes. 
Conversation was kept up between the two ships so long as they 
were in hearing, the Panama's passengers inquiring anxiously 
about the abundance of gold, and the Californians assuring them 
that it was as plenty as ever. 

Few ports present a more picturesque appearance from the sea 
than Mazatlan. The harbor, or roadstead, open on the west to 
the unbroken swells of the Pacific, is protected on the north and 
south by what were once mountain promontories, now split into 
parallel chains of islands, separated by narrow channels of sea 
Their sides are scarred with crags, terminating toward the sea in 
precipices of dark red rock, with deep caverns at the base, into 
which the surf continually dashes. On approaching the road, 
these islands open one beyond the other, like a sucoession of shift 



TOUCHING AT MAZATLAN. 41 

ing Views, tne last revealing the white walls of Mazatlan, rising 
gradually from the water, with a beautiful back-ground of dim blue 
mountains. The sky was of a dazzling purity, and the whole 
scene had that same clearness of outline and enchanting harmony 
of color which give the landscapes of Italy their greatest charm. 
As we ran westward on the Tropic of Cancer across the mouth of 
tlie Gulf J nothing could exceed the purity of the atmosphero. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA 

" There is California !" was the cry next morning at sunrise. 
" Where ?" " Off the starboard bow." I rose on my bunk in 
one of the deck state-rooms, and looking out of the window, watched 
the puiple mountains of the Peninsula, as they rose in the fresh, 
inspiring air. We were opposite its southern extremity, and I 
scanned the brown and sterile coast with a glass, searching for 
anything like vegetation. The whole country appeared to be a 
mass of nearly naked rock, nourishing only a few cacti and some 
stunted shrubs. At the extreme end of the Peninsula the valley 
of San Jose opens inland between two ranges of lofty granite 
mountains. Its beautiful green level, several miles in width, 
stretched back as far as the eye could reach. The town lies near 
the sea ; it is noted for the siege sustained by Lieut. Haywood and 
a small body of American troops during the war. Lying deep 
amid the most frightfully barren and rugged mountains I ever saw, 
the valley of San Jose which is watered by a small river, might 
be made a paradise. The scenery around it corresponded strik- 
ingly with descriptions of Syria and Palestine. The bare, yellow 
crags glowed in the sun with dazzling intensity, and a chain of 
splintered peaks in the distance wore the softest shade of violet. 



A TREACHEROUS COAST. 43 

In spite of the forbidding appearance of the coast, a more peculiar 
and interesting pictui-e than it gave can hardly be found on the 
Pacific. Cape San Lucas, whifch we passed toward evening, is a 
bold bluff of native granite, broken into isolated rocks at its points, 
which present the appearance of three distinct and perfectly-formed 
pyramids. The white, glistening rock is pierced at its base by 
hollow caverns and arches, some of which are fifteen or twenty 
feet high, giving glimpses of the ocean beyond. The structure of 
this cape is very similar to that of The Needles on the Isle of 
Wight. 

On the 12th of August we passed the island of Santa Marguerita, 
"lying across the mouth of a bay, the upper extremity of which is 
called Point San Lazaro. Here, the outline of the coast, as laid 
down on the charts in use, is very incorrect. The longitude is 
not only plajced too far eastward by twenty to thirty miles, but an* 
isolated mountain, rising from the sea, eight miles northwest of 
Point San Lazaro, is entirely wanting. This mountain — a summit 
of barren rock, five miles in length and about a thousand feet in 
bight, is connected with the coast by a narrow belt of sand, form- 
ing a fine bay, twelve miles deep, curving southward till it strikes 
Point San Lazaro. The northern point of the headland is bor- 
dered by breakers, beyond which extends a shoal. Here the 
current sets strongly in shore, and here it was that a whale-ship 
was lost a few months sincCj her crew escaping to wander for days 
on an arid desert, without water or vegetation. The Panama, on 
her downward trip, ran on the shoal and was obliged to lay-to all 
night ; in the morning, instead of the open sea promised by the 
chart, the crags of the unknown headland rose directly in front of 
her. The coast, as far as I could see with a good glass, presented 
an unbroken level of glaring white sand, which must extend in- 



44 ELDORADO. 

land for fifty or sixty miles, since, under the clearest of skies, no 
sign of rock or distant peak was visible. The appearance of the 
whole Peninsula, in passing — the alternations of bleak mountain, 
blooming plain and wide salt desert — the rumors of vast mineral 
wealth in its unknown interior and the general want of intelligence 
in relation to it — conspired to excite in me a strong wish to tra- 
verse it from end to end. 

The same evening we doubled Cape San Lucas, we met the 
ship Grey Eagle, of Philadelphia, one of the first of the California 
squadron. She was on her way from San Francisco to Mazatlan, 
with two hundred passengers on board, chiefly Mexicans. Three 
cheers were given and returned, as the vessels passed each other. 
The temperature changed, as we left the tropics behind and met 
the north-western trades ; the cool winds drove many passengers 
from the deck, and the rest of us had soine chance for exercise. 
All were in the best spirits, at the prospect of soon reaching our 
destination, and the slightest thread of incident, whereto a chance 
for amusement might be Jiung, was eagerly caught up. There 
was on board a man of rather grave demeanor, who, from the 
circumstance of having his felt hat cocked up like a general's, 
woaring it square across his brows and standing for long whiles 
with his arms folded, in a meditative attitude, had been generally 
nicknamed "Napoleon." There was no feature of his face like 
the great Corsican's, but from the tenacity with which he took his 
stand on the mizen-yard and folded his arms every evening, the 
passengers supposed he really imagined a strong resemblance. 
One of those days, in a spirit of mischief, they bought a felt hat, 
gave it the same cocked shape, and bribed one of the negro cooks 
to wear it and take off Napoleon, Accordingly, as the latter be- 
gan ascending the shrouds to his favorite post, the cook went uj- 



HARBOR OF SAK DIEGO. 45 

the opposite side. Napoleon sat (Idwn on the yard, braced him- 
self against the mast and folded his .arms ; the cook, "slyly watch 
ing his motions, imitated them with a gravity which was irresistible. 
All the passengers were by this time gathered on the quarter- 
deck, shouting with laughter : it was singular how much merri- 
ment so boyish a trick could occasion. Napoleon bore it for a 
time with perfect stolidity, gazing on the sunset with unchanged 
solemnity of visage. At last, getting tired of the affair, he looked 
down on the crowd and said : " you have sent me a very fit 
representative of yourselves." The laugh was stopped suddenly, 
*nd from that time forth Napoleon was not disturbed in his 
musings. » 

The only other point of interest which we saw on the Peninsu- 
lar coast, was Benito Island, off the Bay of Sebastian Viscaino, 
so named, after the valiant discoverer of California. Two morn- 
ings after, I saw the sun rise behind the mountains back of San 
Diego. Point Loma, at the extremity of the bay, came in sight 
on the left, and in less than an hour we were at anchor before the 
hide-houses at the landing place. The southern shore of the bay 
IS low and sandy ; from the bluff bights on the opposite side a 
narrow strip of shingly beach makes out into the sea, like a na- 
tural breakwater, leaving an entrance not more than three hundred 
yards broad. The harbor is the finest on the Pacific, with the 
exception of Acapulco, and capable of easy and complete de- 
fense. The old hide-houses are built at the foot of the hills just 
inside the bay, and a fine road along the shore leads to the town 
of San Diego, which is situated on a plain, three miles distant 
and barely visible frcm the anchorage. Above the houses, on a 
little eminence, several tents were planted, and a short distance 
further were several recent graves, surrounded b^^ paling. A 



46 ELDORADO. 

number of poopls were clustered on th: bcacli, and bc»ats laden 
with passe.ngers and freight, instantly put off to us. In a few 
minutes after our gun was fired, we could see horsemen coming 
down from San Diego at full gallop, one of whom carried behind 
him a lady in graceful riding costume. In the first boat were 
Colonel Weller, U. S. Boundary Commissioner, and Major Hill, 
of the Army. Then followed a number of men, lank and brown 
" as is the ribbed sea-sand" — men with long hair and beards, and 
faces from which the rigid expression of suffering was scarcely 
relaxed. They were the first of the overland emigrants by the 
Gila route, who had reached San Diego a few days before. Their 
clothes were in tatters, their boots, in many cases, replaced by 
moccasins, and, except their rifles and some small packages rolled 
in deerskin, they had nothing left of the abundant stores witH 
which they left home. 

We hove anchor in half an hour, and again rounded Point 
Loma, our number increased by more than fifty passengers. The 
Point, which comes down to the sea at an angle of 60 " has been 
lately purchased by an American, for what purpose I cannot im- 
agine, unless it is with the hope of speculating on Government 
when it shall be wanted for a light-house. In the afternoon we 
passed the island of Santa Catalina, which is about twelve miles 
in length, rising to a height of 3,000 feet above the sea, and in- 
habited by herds of wild goats. Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa, 
which lie opposite Santa Barbara and separated from it by the 
channel of the same name, were left behind us in the night, and 
the next day we were off Cape Conception, the Cape Horn of Cali- 
fornia. True to its character, we had a cold, dense fog, and 
violent head-winds ; the coast was shrouded from sight. 

The emigrants we took on board at San Diego were objects ot 



NARRATIVES OF EMIGRATION 47 

general interest. Tha stories of their adventures by the way 
sounded more marvellous tljian anything I had heard or read 
since my boyish acquaintance with Robinson Crusoe, Captain 
Cook and John Ledyard. Taking them as the average ex- 
perience of the thirty thousand emigrants who last year crossed 
the Plains, this California Crusade will more than equal the great 
military expeditions of the Middle Ages in magnitude, peril and 
adventure. The amount of suffering which must have been 
endured in the savage mountain passes and herbless deserts of the 
interior, cannot be told in words. Some had come by way of 
Santa Fe and along the savage hills of the Gila ; some, starting 
from Red River, had crossed the Grreat Stake Desert and taken 
the road from Paso del Norte to Tueson in Sonora ; some had 
passed through Mexico and after spending one hundred and four 
days at sea, run into San Diego and given up their vessel ; some 
had landed, weary with a seven months' psssage around Cape 
Horn, and some, finally, had reached the place on foot, after 
walking the whole length of the Californian Peninsula. 

The emigrants by the Gila route gave a terrible account of the 
crossing of the Great Desert, lying west of the Colorado. They 
described this region as scorching and sterile — a country of 
burning salt plains. and shifting hills of sand, whose only signs of 
human visitation are the bones of animals "and men scattered 
along the trails that cross it. The corpses of several emigrants, 
out of companies who passed before them, lay half-buried in sand, 
and the hot air was made stifling by the effluvia that rose from the 
dry carcases of hundreds of mules. There, if a man faltered, 
he was gone ; no one could stop to lend him a hand without a 
likelihood of sharing his fate. It seemed like a wonderful Provi* 
deuce to these emigrants, when they came suddenly upon a large 



48 ELDORADO. 

and swift stream of fresh water in the midst of the Desert, where, 
a year previous, there had been nothing but sterile sand. This 
phenomenon was at first ascribed to the melting of snow on the 
mountains, but later emigrants traced the river to its source in a 
lake about half a mile in length, which had bubbled up spontane- 
ously from the fiery bosom of the Desert. 

One of the emigrants by the Sonora route told me a story of 
a sick man who rode behind his party day after day, unable to 
keep pace with it, yet always arriving in camp a few hours later. 
This lasted so long that finally little attention was paid to him and 
his absence one night excited no apprehension. Three days 
passed and he did not arrive. On the fourth, a negro, traveling 
alone and on foot, came into camp and told them that many miles 
behind a man lying beside the road had begged a little water from 
him and asked him to hurry on and bring assistance. The next 
morning a company of Mexicans came up and brought word that 
the man was dying. The humane negro retraced his steps forty 
miles, and arrived just as the sufferer breathed his last. He 
lifted him in his arms ; in the vain effort to speak, the man 
expired. The mule, tied to a cactus by his side, was already dead 
of hunger. 

I was most profoundly interested in the narrative of a Phila- 
delphian, who, after crossitg Mexico from Tampico to San 
Bias, embarked for San Francisco, and was put ashore by his 
own request, at Cape San Lucas. He had three or four com- 
panions, the party supposing they might make the journey to San 
Diego in thirty or forty days, by following the coast. It was soon 
found, however, that the only supply of water was among the 
mountains of the interior, and they were obliged to proceed on 
foot to the valley of San Jose and follow the trail to La Paz, on 



GEN. VILLAMIL AND HIS COLONY 49 

the Californian Grulf. Thence they wandered in a nearly opposite 
direction to Todos Santos Bay, on the Pacific, where they ex- 
changed some of their arms for horses. The route led in a zig- 
zag direction across the mountain chain, from one watering-place to 
another, with frequent yorTi^^A-s (journeys without water,) of thirty, 
forty and even sixty miles in length. Its rigors were increased 
by the frightful desolation of the country, and the deep gullies or 
arroyos with which it is seamed. In the beds of these they would 
often lose the trail, occasioning them many hours' search to 
recover it. The fruit of the cactus and the leaves of succulent 
plants formed their principal sustenance. After a month of this 
travel they reached San Ignacio, half-way to San Diego, where 
their horses failed them ; the remainder of the journey was per- 
formed on foot. The length of the Peninsula is about eight 
hundred miles, but the distance traveled by these hardy adven- 
turers amounted to more than fifteen hundred. 

Among the passengers who came on board at San Diego, waa 
•Ten. Villamil, of the Republic of Ecuador, who was aid to Bolivar 
during the war of South-American independence. After the se- 
cession of Ecuador from Columbia, he obtained from Gen. Flores 
a grant of one of the Galapagos Islands — a group well known to 
whalers, lying on the equator, six hlfhdred miles west of Guayaquil. 
On this island, which he named Floriana, he has lived for the past 
sixteen years. His colony contains a hundred and fifty souls, who 
raise on the light, new soil, abundant crops of grain and vegetables. 
The island is fifteen miles in length, by twelve in breadth, lying in 
lat. 1° 30' S. and its highest part is about 5,000 feet above the levej 
of the sea. The soil is but from twelve to eighteen inches deep, 
yet such is the profusion of vegetable growth, that, as Gen. Yilla 
nnl informed me, its d^pth has in iriany places increased six inches 

VOL. I. 3 



since he first landed there. The supply of water is obtained iti a 
very singular manner. A large porous rock, on the side of one oi 
the mountains, seems to serve as an outlet or filter for some sub- 
terranean vein, since on its base, which is constantly humid, the 
drops collect and fall in sufficient abundance to supply a large 
basin in the rock below. Pipes from this deposit convey the water 
to the valley. Its quality is cool, sweet and limpid, and the rocky 
sponge from which it drips never fails in its supply. 

We were within sight of the Coast Range of California all day, 
after passing Cape Conception. Their sides are spotted with 
timber, which in the narrow valleys sloping down to the sea ap- 
peared to be of large growth. From their unvarying yellow hue, 
we took them to be mountains of sand, but they were in reality 
covered with natural harvests of wild oats, as T afterwards learned, 
on traveling into the interior. A keen, bracing wind at night 
kept down the fog, and although the thermometer fell to 52'', 
causing a general shiver on board, I walked the deck a long time, 
noting the extraordinary brilliancy of the stars in the pure air. 
The mood of our passengers changed very visibly as we approached 
the close of the voyage ; their exhilarant anticipations left them, 
and were succeeded by a reaction of feeling that almost amounted 
to despondency. The return to laborious life after a short ex- 
emption from its cares, as in the case of travel, is always attended 
with some such feeling, but among the California emigrants it was 
intensified by the uncertainty of their venture in a region where all 
the ordinary rules of trade and enterprise would be at fault. 

When I went on deck in the clear dawn, while yet 

" The maiden splendors of the morning-star 
Shook in the steadfast blue," 



THE LAST DAI OF THE VOYAGE. 51 

we were rounding Point Pinos into the harbor of Monterey. As 
we drew near, the white, scattered dwellings of the town, situated 
on a gentle slope, behind which extended on all sides the celebrated 
Pine Forest, became visible in the grey light. A handsome fort, 
on an eminence near the sea, returned our salute. Four vessels, 
shattered, weather-beaten and apparently deserted, lay at anchor 
not far from shore. The town is larger than I expected to find 
it, and from the water has the air of a large New-England village, 
barring the adohe houses. Major Lee and Lieut. Beale, who went 
ashore in the steamer's boat, found Gen. Riley, the Civil Governor, 
very ill with a fever. As we were preparing to leave, the sun rose 
over the mountains, covering the air with gold brighter than ever 
was scratched up on the Sacramento. The picturesque houses of 
Monterey, the pine woods behind and the hills above them, glowed 
like an illuminated painting, till a fog-curtain which met us at the 
mouth of the harbor dropped down upon the water and hid them 
all from sight. 



At last the voyage is drawing to a close. Fifty-one days have 
elapsed since leaving New York, in which time we have, in a 
manner, coasted both sides of the North- American Continent, 
from the parallel of 40° N. to its termination, within a few degrees 
of the Equator, over seas once ploughed by the keels of Columbus 
and Balboa, of Grijalva and Sebastian Viscaino. All is excite- 
ment on board ; the Captain has just taken his noon observation. 
We are running along the shore, within six or eight miles' distance ; 
the hills are bare and sandy, but loom up finely through the deep 
blue haze. A brig bound ta San Francisco, but fallen off to the 
leeward of the harbor, is making a new tack on our left, to come 



52 ELDORADO. 

up again. The coast trends somewhat more to the westward 
and a notch or gap is at last visible in its lofty outline. 

An hour later ; wc are in front of the entrance to San Francisco 
Bay. The mountains on the northern side are 3,000 feet in hight, 
and come boldly down to the sea. As the view opens through *the 
splendid strait, three or four miles in width, the island rock of 
Alcatraz appears, gleaming white in the distance. An inward- 
bound ship follows close on our wake, urged on by wind and tide 
There is a small fort perched among the trees on our right, where 
the strait is narrowest, and a glance at the formation of the hills 
shows that this pass might be made impregnable as Gribraltar. 
The town is still concealed behind the promontory around which 
the Bay turns to the southward, but between Alcatraz and the 
island of Yerba Buena, now coming into sight, I can see vessels at 
anchor. High through the vapor in front, and thirty miles dis- 
tant, rises the peak of Monte Diablo, which overlooks everything 
between the Sierra Nevada and the Ocean. On our left opens 
the bight of Sousolito, where the U. S. propeller Massachusetts and 
several other vessels are at anchor. 

At last we are through the Golden Gate — fit name for such a 
magnificent portal to the commerce of the Pacific ! Yerba Buena 
Island is in front ; southward and westward opens the renowned 
harbor, crowded with the shipping of the world, mast behind mast 
and vessel behind vessel, the flags of all nations fluttering in the 
breeze ! Around the curving shore of the Bay and upon the 
sides of three hills which rise steeply from the water, the middle 
one receding so as to form a bold amphitheatre, the town is planted 
and seems scarcely yet to have taken root, for tents, canvas, plank, 
mud and adobe houses are mingled together with the least apparent 



THE ANCHOR DROPS. 68 

attempt at order and durability. But I am not yet on shore. The 
gun of the Panama has just announced our arrival to the people 
on land. We glide on with the tide, past the U. S. ship Ohio 
and opposite the main landing, outside of the forest of masts. A 
dozen boats are creeping out to us over the water ; the signal is 
given — the anchor drops — our voyage is over. 



CHAPTER YI. 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

1 LEFT the Panama, in company with Lieut. Beale, in the boat 
of the U. S. ship Ohio, which brought Lieutenant Ells on board. 
We first boarded the noble ship, which, even in San Francisco har- 
bor, showed the same admirable order as on our own coast. She 
had returned from Honolulu a few days previous, after an absence 
of three months from California. The morning of our arrival, 
eighteen of her men had contrived to escape, carrying with them 
one of the boats, under fire from all the Government vessels in 
the harbor. The officers were eager for news from home, having 
been two months without a mail, and I was glad that my habit of 
carrying newspapers in my pockets enabled me to furnish them 
with a substantial gratification. The Ohio's boat put us ashore 
at the northern point of the anchorage, at the foot of a steep 
bank, from which a high pier had been built into the bay. A 
large vessel lay at the end, discharging her cargo. We scrambled 
up through piles of luggage, and among the crowd collected to 
witness our arrival, picked out two Mexicans to carry our trunks to 
a hotel. The barren side of the hill before us was covered witJh 
tents and canvas houses, and nearly in front a large two-storj 
building displayed the sign : " Fremont Family Hotel." 



Al'PEARANCE OF THE TOWN. 55 

As yet, we were only in the suburbs of the town. Crossing 
the shoulder of the hill, the view extended around the curve 
of the bay, and hundreds of tents and houses appeared, scattered 
all over the heights, and along the shore for more than a mile. A 
furious wind was blowing down through a gap in the hills, filling 
the streets with clouds of dust. On every side stood buildings of 
all kinds, begun or half-finished, and the greater part of them 
mere canvas sheds, open in front, and covered with all kinds of 
signs, in all languages. Great quantities of goods were piled up 
in the open air, for want of a place to store them. The streets 
were full of people, hurrying to and fro, and of as diverse and 
bizarre a character as the houses : Yankees of every possible va- 
riety, native Californians in sarapes and sombreros, Chilians, So- 
norians. Kanakas from Hawaii, Chinese with long tails, Malays 
armed with their everlasting creeses, and others in whose em- 
browned and bearded visages it was impossible to recognize any 
especial nationality. We came at last into the plaza, now digni- 
fied by the name of Portsmouth Square. It lies on the slant side 
of the hill, and from a high pole in front of a long one-story adobe 
building used as the Custom House, the American flag was flying. 
On the lower side stood the Parker House — an ordinary frame 
house of about sixty feet front — and towards its entrance we 
directed our course. 

Our luggage was deposited on one of the rear porticos, and we 
discharged the porters, after paying them two dollars each — a 
sum so immense in comparison to the service rendered tnac there 
was no longer any doubt of our haying actually landed in Cali- 
rornia. There were no lodgings to be had at the Parker House — 
not even a place to unroll our blankets ; but one of the proprietors 
accompanied us across the plaza to the City Hctel, where we ob- 



56 ELDORADO. 

tained a room with two beds at $25 per week, meals being in ad- 
dition $20 per week. I asked the landlord whether he could send 
a porter for our trunks. " There is none belonging to the house," 
said he ; " every man is his own porter here." I returned to the 
Parker House, shouldered a heavy trunk, took a valise in my hand 
and carried them to my quarters, in the teeth of the wind. Our 
room was in a sort of garret over the only story of the hotel ; two 
cots, evidently of California manufacture, and covered only with 
a pair of blankets, two chairs, a. rough table and a small looking- 
glass, constituted the furniture. There was not space enough 
between the bed and the bare rafters overhead, to sit upright, and 
I gave myself a severe blow in rising the next morning without 
the proper heed. Through a small roof-window of dim glass, I 
could see* the opposite shore of the bay, then partly hidden by the 
evening fogs. The wind whistled around the eaves and rattled 
the tiles with a cold, gusty sound, that would have imparted a 
dreary character to the place, had I been in a mood to listen. 

Many of the passengers began speculation at the moment of 
landing. The most ingenious and successful operation was made 
by a gentleman of New York, who took out fifteen hundred copies 
of The Tribune and other papers, which he disposed of in two 
hours, at one dollar a-piece ! Hearing of this I bethought me of 
Ebout a dozen papers which I had used to fill up crevices in pack- 
ing my valise. There was a newspaper merchant at the corner 
of the City Hotel, and to him I proposed the sale of them, asking 
him to name a price. " I shall want to make a good profit on the 
retail price," said he, " and can't give more than ten dollars /or , 
the lot." I was satisfied with the wholesale price, which was ^ 
gain of just four thousand per cent ! 

I set out for a walk before dark and climbxl a hill back of 



THE new-comer's BEWILDERMENT. 57 

tlie town, passing a number of tents pitched in the hollow g. 
The scattered houses spread out below me and the crowded 
shipping in the harbor, backed by a lofty line of mountains, made 
an imposing picture. The restless, feverish tide of life in that 
little spot, and the thought that what I then saw and was yet to 
see will hereafter fill one of the most marvellous pages of aU 
history, rendered it singularly impressive. The feeling was not 
decreased on talking that evening with some of the old residents, 
(that is, of six months' standing,) and hearing their several 
experiences. Every new-comer in San Francisco is overtaken 
with a sense of complete bewilderment. The mind, however it 
may be prepared for an astonishing condition of affairs, cannot 
immediately push aside its old instincts of value and ideas of 
business, letting all past experiences go for naught and casting 
all its faculties for action, intercourse with its fellows or advance- 
ment in any path of ambition, into shapes which it never before 
imagined. As in the turn of the dissolving views, there is a 
period when it wea^s neither the old nor the new phase, but the 
vanishing images of the one and the growing perceptions of the 
other are blended in painful and misty confusion. One knows not 
whether he is awake or in some wonderful dream. Never have I 
had so much difficulty in establishing, satisfactorily to my own 
senses, the reality of what I saw and heard. 

I was forced to believe many things, which in my communica- 
tions to The Tribune I was almost afraid to write, with any hope 
of their obtaining credence. It may be interesting to give hevf^ a 
few instances of the enormous and unnatural value put upon 
property at the time of my arrival. The Parker House rented 
for $110,000 yearly, at least $60,000 of which was paid by 
gamblers, who held nearly all the second story. Adjoining it on 



5y - ELDORADC. 

the right was a canvas-tent fifteen by twenty-five feet, called '' El- 
dorado ," and occupied likewise by gamblers, which brought $40,000 
On the opposite corner of the plaza, a building called the " Miner's 
Bank," used by Wright & Co., brokers, about half the size of a 
fire-engine house in New York, was held at a^ rent of. $75,000. 
A mercantile house paid $40,000 rent for a one-story building of 
twenty feet front ; the United States Hotel, $36,000 ; the Post- 
Office, $7,000, and so on to the end of the chapter. A friend of 
mine, who wished to find a place for a law-office, was shown a 
cellar in the earth, about twelve feet square and six deep, which 
he could have at $250 a month. One of the common soldiers at 
the battle of San Pasquale was reputed to be among the mil- 
lionaires of the place, with an income of $50,000 monthly. A 
citizen of San Francisco died insolvent to the amount of $41,000 
the previous Autumn. His administrators were delayed in 
settling his affairs, and his real estate advanced so rapidly in value 
meantime, that after his debts were paid his heirs had a yearly 
income of $40,000. These facts wore indubitably attested ; 
every one believed them, yet hearing them talked of daily, as 
matters of course, one at first could not help feeling as if he had 
been eating of " the insane root." 

The prices paid for labor were in proportion to everything else. 
The carman of Melius, Howard & Co. had a salary of $6,000 a 
year, and many others made from $]5 to $20 daily. Sorvaut:^ 
were paid from $100 to $200 a month, but the wages of tha 
rougher kinds of labor had fallen to about $8. Yet, notwith- 
standing the number of gold-seekers who were returning enfeeblAjj^ 
and disheartened from the mines, it was difficult to obtain as majpiP 
workmen as the forced growth of the city demanded. A gentle- 
man who arj-ived in \pril told me he then found but thirty or 



INDIFFERENT SHOPKEEPER^. 69 

forty houses ; the population was then so scant that not more than 
twenty-five persons would be seen in the streets at any one time. 
Now, there were probably five hundred houses, tents and sheds, 
with a population, fixed and floating, of six thousand. People 
who had been absent six weeks came back and could scarcely 
Vecognize the place. Streets were regularly laid out, and already 
there were three piers, at which small vessels could discharge. 
It was calculated that the town increased daily by from fifteen to 
thirty houses ; its skirts were rapidly approaching the summits of 
the three hills on which it is located. 

A curious result of the extraordinary abundance of gold and 
the facility with which fortunes were acquired, struck me at the 
first glance. All business was transacted on so extensive a scale 
that the ordinary habits of solicitation and compliance on the one 
hand and stubborn cheapening on the other, seemed to be entirely 
forgotten. You enter a shop to buy something ; the owner eyes 
you with perfect indifierence, waiting for you to state your want ; 
if you object to the price, you are at liberty to leave, for you need 
not expect to get it cheaper ; he evidently cares little whether you 
buy it or not. One who has been some time in the country will 
lay down the money, without wasting words. The only exception 
I found to this rule was that of a sharp-faced Down-Easter just 
opening his stock, who was much distressed when his clerk 
charged me seventy-five cents- for a coil of rope^ instead of one 
dollar. This disregard for all the petty arts of money-making 
was really a refreshing feature of society. Another equally 
agreeable trait was the punctuality with which debts were paid^ 
and the general confidence which men were obliged to place, 
perforce, in each other's honesty. Perhaps this latter fact was 
owing, in part, to the unpossibility of protecting wealth, and 



60 ELDORADO 

consequent dependence on an honorable regard for the rights of 
others. 

About the hour of twilight the wind fell ; the sound of a gong 
called us to tea, which was served in the largest room of the hotel 
The fare was abundant and of much better quality than we ex- 
pected — better, in fact, than I was able to find there two montht; 
later. The fresh milk, butter and excellent beef of the country 
were real luxuries after our sea-fare. Thus braced against the 
fog and raw temperature, we sallied out for a night-view of San 
Francisco, then even more peculiar than its daylight look. Busi- 
ness was over about the usual hour, and then the harvest-time of 
the gamblers commenced. Every " hell" in the place, and I did 
not pretend to number them, was crowded, and immense sums 
were staked at the monte and faro tables. A boy of fifteen, in 
one place, won about $500, which he coolly pocketed and carried 
ofi^. One of the gang we brought in the Panama won $1,500 in 
the course of the evening, and another lost $2,400. A fortu- 
nate miner made himself conspicuous by betting large piles of 
ounces on a single throw. His last stake of 100 oz. was lost, and 
I saw him the following morning dashing through the streets, try- 
ing to break his own neck or that of the magnificent garahon he 
bestrode. 

Walking through the town the next day, I was quite amazed to 
find a dozen persons busily employed in the street before the 
United States Holtel, digging up the earth with knives and crumb- 
ling it in their haads. They were actual gold-hunters, who ob- 
tained in this 'way ^bout $5 a day. After blowing the fine dirt 
carefully in their hands, a few specks of gold were left, which 
they placed in a piece of white paper. A number of children 
were engaged in the same business, picking out the fine grains b\ 



STREET GOLD PEOPLE IN TOWN. 61 

applying to them tlie head of a pin, moistened in their mouths. 
I was told of a small boy having taken home $ 1 4 as the result of 
one day's labor. On climbing the hill to the Post Office I ob- 
served in places, where the wind had swept away the sand, several 
glittering dots of the real metal, but, like the Irishman who kicked 
the dollar out of his way, concluded to wait till I should reach the 
heap. The presence of gold in the streets was probably occa- 
sioned by the leakings from the miners' bags and the sweepings 
of stores ; though it may alsO be, to a slight extent, native in the 
earth, particles having been found in the clay thrown up from a 
deep well. 

The arrival of a steamer with a mail ran the usual excitement 
and activity of the town up to its highest possible notch. The 
little Post Office, half-way up the hill, was almost hidden from 
sight by the crowds that clustered around it. Mr. Moore, the new 
Postmaster, who was my fellow-traveler from New York, barred 
every door and window from the moment of his entrance, and 
with his sons and a few clerks, worked steadily for two days and 
two nights, till the distribution of twenty thousand letters was 
completed. Among the many persons I met, the day after land- 
ing, was Mr. T. Butler King, who had just returned from an 
expedition to the placers, in company with Greneral Smith. Mr 
Edwin Bryant, of Kentucky, and Mr. Durivage, of New Orleans^ 
had arrived a few days previous, the former by way of the Great 
Salt Lake, and the latter by the northern provinces of Mexico 
and the Gila. I found the artist Osgood in a studio about eight 
feet square, with a head of Captain Sutter on his easel. He had 
given up gold-digging, after three months of successful labor 
among the mountains. 

T could make no thorough acquaintance with San Franciscc 



62 ELDORADO. 

during this first visit. Lieutenant Beale, who held important 
Government dispatches for Colonel Fremont, made arrangements 
to leave for San Jose on the second morning, and offered me a 
seat on the back of one of his mules. Our fellow-passenger, 
Colonel Lyons, of Louisiana, joined us, completing the mystic 
number which travelers should be careful not to exceed. We 
made hasty tours through all the shops on Clay, Kearney, Wash- 
ington and Montgomery streets, on the hunt of the proper equip- 
ments. Articles of clothing were cheaper than they had been or 
were afterwards ; tolerable blankets could be had for $6 a pair ; 
coarse flannel shirts, $3 ; Chilian spurs, with rowels two inches 
long, $5, and Mexican sarapes, of coarse texture but gay color, 
$10. We could find no saddle-bags in the town, and were neces- 
sitated to pack one of the mules. Among our camping materials 
were a large hatchet and plenty of rope for making lariats ; in 
addition to which each of us carried a wicker flask slung over one 
shoulder. We laid aside our civilized attire, stuck long sheath- 
knives into our belts, put pistols into our pockets and holsters, and 
buckled on the immense spurs wiiich jingled as they struck the 
ground at every step. Our " animals" were already in waiting ; 
an alazan, the Californian term for a sorrel horse, a beautiful 
brown mule, two of a cream color and a dwarflsh little fellow 
whose long forelock and shaggy mane gave him altogether an 
elfish character of cunning and mischief. 



CHAPTER VII. 

TO THE SAN JOAQUIN, ON MULEBACK 

It was noon before we got everything fairly in order and moved 
slowly away from the City Hotel, where a number of our fellow- 
passengers — the only idlers in the place, because just arrived — 
were collected to see us start. Shouldering our packs until we 
should be able to purchase an aparejo^ or pack-saddle, from some 
Mexican on the road, and dragging after us two reluctant mules 
by their lariats of horse-hair, we climbed the first " rise," dividing 
the town from the Happy Valley. Here we found a party of So- 
norians encamped on the sand, with their mules turned loose and 
the harness scattered about them. After a little bargaining, we 
obtained ouq of their pack-saddles for eight dollars. Lieut. Beale 
jumped down, caught the little mule — which to his great surprise 
he recognized as an old acquaintance among the Rocky Mountains 
during the previous winter — and commenced packing. In my 
zeal to learn all the mysteries of mountain-life, I attempted to 
alight and assist him ; but alas ! the large rowel of my spur caught 
in the folds of a blanket strapped to the saddle, the girth slipped 
and I was ingloriously thrown on my back. The Sonorians 
laughed heartily, but came forward and re-adjusted the saddle with 
a willingness that reconciled me to their mirth. 



64 ELDORADO. 

All was finally arranged and we urged our mules along in the 
Band, over hills covered with thickets of evergreen oak. The guns 
of the Ohio, fired for the obsequies of cx-president Polk, echoed 
among the mountains of the bay, and companies of horsemen, 
coming in from the interior, appeared somewhat startled at the 
sound. Three miles from San Francisco is the old Mission of 
Dolores, situated in a sheltered valley, which is watered by a per- 
petual stream, fed from the tall peaks towards the sea. As we 
descended a long sand-hill before reaching the valley. Picayune, 
our pack-mule, suddenly came to a stop. Lieut. Beale, who had 
a most thorough knowledge of mule-craft, dismounted and untied 
the lash-ro^e ; the pack had slightly shifted, and Picayune, who 
was as knowing as he. was perverse, would not move a step till it 
was properly adjusted. We now kept the two loose mules in ad- 
vance and moved forward in better order The mountains beyond 
the Mission are bleak and barren and the dire north-west wind, 
sweeping in from the sea through their gorges, chilled us to the 
bones as we rode over them. 

After ascending for some distance by a broad road, in which, 
at short intervals, lay the carcasses of mules and horses, attended 
by flocks of buzzards, we passed through a notch in the main 
chain, whence there was a grand look-out to the sea on one side, 
to the bay on the other. We were glad, however, to descend from 
these raw and gusty heights, along the sides of the mountains pf 
San Bruno, to the fertile and sheltered plains of Santa Clara 
Large herds of cattle are pastured in this neighborhood, the grass 
in the damp flats and wild oats on the mountains, affording them 
sufficient food during the dry season. At Sanchez' Pianche, whicli 
we reached just before sunset, there was neither grass nor barley 
and we turned our mules supperlcss into the corral. The Senors 



SCENERY OF THE INLAND. 66 

Sanchez, after some persuasion, stirred up the fire in the mud 
kitchen and prepared for us a guisado of beef and onions, with 
some rank black tea. As soon as it was dark, we carried our 
equipments into the house, and by a judicious arrangement of 
our saddles, blankets and clothes, made a grand bed for three 
where we should have slept, had fleas been lobsters. But as they 
wore fleas, of the largest and savagest kind, we nearly perished 
before morning. Kather than start for the day with starved ani- 
mals, we purchased half 3. fanega — a little more than a bushel — 
of wheat, for $5. Mr. Beale's horse was the only one who did 
justice to this costly feed, and we packed the rest on the back of 
little Picayune, who gave an extra groan when it was added to his 
load. 

Our road now led over broad plains, through occasional belts 
of tnnber. The grass was almost entirely burnt up, and dry, 
gravelly arroyos, in and out of which we went with a plunge and 
a scramble, marked the courses of the winter streams. T*he air 
was as warm and balmy as May, and fragrant with the aroma of 
a species of gnaphalium, which made it delicious to inhale. Not 
a cloud was to be seen in the sky, and the high, sparsely-wooded 
mountains on either hand, showed softened and indistinct through 
a blue haze. The character of the scenery was entirely new to 
me. The splendid valley, untenanted except by a few solitary 
rancheros living many miles apart, seemed to be some deserted 
location of ancient civilization and culture. ' The wooded slopes 
of the mountains are lawns, planted by Nature with a taste to' 
which Art could add no charm. ^ The trees have nothing of the 
wild growth of our forests ; they are compact, picturesque, and 
grouped in every variety of graceful outline. The hills were 
L'overod to the summit with fields of wild oats, coloring them 



66 ELDORADO 

as far as the eye could reach, with tawny gold, against which the 
dark, glossy green of the oak and cypress showed with peculiar 
effect. As we advanced further, these natural harvests extended 
over the plain, mixed with vast beds of wild mustard, eight feet 
in height, xmder which a thick crop of grass had sprung up, fur- 
nishing sustenance to the thousands of cattle, roaming everywhere 
unherded. The only cultivation I saw was a small field of maize, 
green and with good ears. 

I never felt a more thorough, exhilarating sense of freedom than 
when first fairly afloat on these vast and beautiful plains. With 
the mule as my shallop, urged steadily onward past the tranquil 
isles and long promontories of timber ; drinking, with a delight 
that almost made it a flavor on the palate, the soft, elastic, fragrant 
air ; cut off, for the time, from every u'ksome requirement of 
civilization, and cast loose, like a stray, unshackled spirit, on the 
bosom of a new earth, I seemed to take a fresh and more perfect 
lease df existence. The mind was in exquisite harmony with the 
outer world, and the same sensuous thrill of Life vibrated through 
each. The mountains showed themselves through the magical 
screen of the haze ; far on our left the bay made a faint, glim- 
mering line, like a rod of light, cutting off the hardly-seen hills 
beyond it, from the world ; and on all sides, from among the glossy 
clumps of bay and evergreen oak, the chirrup and cheery whistle 
of birds rang upon the air. 

After a ride of twenty-five miles without grass, water or sign of 
habitation, we stopped to rest at a ranche, in the garden of which 
I found a fine patch of grape vines, laden with flourishing bunches. 
We watered our mules with a basket of Indian manufacture, so 
closely plaited that scarcely a drop found its way through. At 
the ranche we met an emi<:;rant returning from the mines, and 



RANCHES ON THE ROAD. 67 

were strongly addsed to turn back. He had evidently mistaken 
bis capacity when he came to California. " You think you are 
very wise," said he, " and you'll believe nothing ; but it won't be 
long before you'll find out the truth of my words. You'll have to 
sleep on the ground every night and take care of your own animals ; 
und you may think yourselves lucky if you get your regular meals." 
We fully agreed with him in every respect, but he took it all for 
unbelieving irony. At Whisman's ranche, two miles further, we 
btopped to dinner. The sight of a wooden house gladdened our 
eyes, and still more so that of the home-made bread, fresh butter 
and milk which Mrs. Whisman set before us. The family had 
lived there nearly two years and were well contented with the 
country. The men go occasionally to the mines and dig, but are 
prudent enough not to neglect their farming operations. The 
grass on the vega before the house was still thick and green, and 
a well fifteen feet deep supplied them with good water. The 
vegetables in their garden, though planted late, were growing 
finely ; the soil is a rich, dark loam, now as cracked and dry as a 
cinder, but which, under the Winter and Spring rains, is hidden 
by a deluge of vegetable bloom. 

As evening drew on the white spire of Santa Clara Mission 
showed in the distance, and an hour's sharp riding brought us in 
front of its old white-washed walls. The buildings, once very 
spacious in extent, are falling into ruin, and a single monk in the 
corridor, habited in a very dirty cowl and cassock, was the only 
saintly inhabitant we saw. The Mission estate, containing twenty- 
five thousand head of cattle and many square leagues of land, was 
placed by Gren. Kearney in charge of Padre del Real, President 
of the Missions of the North. The Padre, however, exceeded' his 
powers by making leases of the Mission lands to emigrants and others. 



68 ELDORADO. 

and devoting the proceeds to the henefit of the Church Persoca], 
At the time we passed, several frame houses had sprung up 
around the Mission, on grounds thus leased. Beyond ' the build- 
ings, we entered a magnificent road, three miles in length, and 
shaded by an avenue of evergreen oaks, leading to Pueblo San 
Jose, which we reached at dusk. 

Pueblo San Jose, situated about five miles from the southern 
extremity of the Bay of San Francisco, and in the mouth of the 
beautiful valley of San Jose, is one of the most flourishing inland 
towns in California. On my first visit, it was mainly a collection 
of adobe houses, with tents and a few clapboard dwellings, of the 
season's growth, scattered over a square half-mile. As we were 
entering, I noticed a little white box, with pillars and triangular 
fagade in front, and remarked to my friend that it had certainly 
been taken bodily from Lynn and set down there. Truly enough^ 
it was a shoe store ! Several stores and hotels had been opened 
within a few weeks, and the price of lots was only lower than those 
of San Francisco. We rode into an open plaza, a quarter of a 
mile in length, about which the town was built, and were directed 
to the Miner's Home, a decent-looking hotel, near its northern 
end. Our mules were turned into a stable at hand ; tea, with the 
substantial addition of beefsteak, was served to us, and lighting 
the calumet, we lounged on the bench at the door, enjoying that 
repose which is only tasted after wearisome travel. Lieut. Beale 
went off to seek Col. Fremont, who was staying at the house of 
Mr. Grove Cook ; Col. Lyons and myself lay down on the floor 
among half a dozen other travelers and fleas which could not be 
counted. 

In the morning we went with Lieut. Beale to call upon Col 
Fremont, whom we found on the portico of Mr Cook's house, 



COLONEL FREMONT. 69 

wearing a sombrero and Californian jacket,, and showing no trace 
of the terrible hardships he had lately undergone. It may be in- 
teresting to the thousands who have followed him, as readers may, 
on his remarkable journeys and explorations for the past eight 
years, to know that he is a man of about thirty-five years of age , 
of medium height, and lightly, but most compactly knit — in fact, 
I have seen in no other man the qualities of lightness, activity, 
strength and physical endurance in so perfect an equilibrium. 
His face is rather thin and embrowned by exposure ; his nose a 
bold aquiline and his eyes deep-set and keen as a hawk's. The 
rough camp-life of many years has lessened in no degree his na 
tive refinement of character and polish of manners. A stranger 
would never suppose him to be the Columbus of our central 
wildernesses, though when so informed, would believe it without 
surprise. 

After the disastrous fate of his party on the head waters of the 
Rio del Norte, Col. Fremont took the southern route through 
Sonora, striking the Gila River at the Pimos Village. It was ex- 
ceedingly rough and fatiguing, but he was fortunate enough to find 
in the bottoms along the river, where no vegetation had been 
heard of or expected, large patches of wild wheat. The only 
supposition by which this could be accounted for, was that it fell 
from the store-wagons attached to Major Graham's command, 
which passed over the route the previous autumn. Otherwise, 
the bursting forth of a river in the midst of the Great Desert, 
whi'jh I have already mentioned, and the appearance of wheat 
among the sterile sands of the Gila, would seem like a marvellous 
coincidence, not wholly unsui^ed to the time. Col. Fremont had 
just returned from the Mariposa River, where his party of men 
was successfully engnged in gold-digging In addition, he had com- 



70 ELDORADO. 

menced a more secure business, in the establishment of a_ steam 
saw-mill at Pueblo San Jose. The forests of redwood close at 
hand make fine timber, and he had a year's work engaged 'before 
the mill was in operation. Lumber was then bringing $500 per 
thousand feet, and not long before brought $1,500. 

At the house of Mr. Cook we also saw Andrew Sublette, the 
celebrated mountaineer, who accompanied Lieut. Beale on hi 
overland journey, the winter before. He was lame from scurvy 
brought on by privations endured on that occasion and his subse- 
quent labors in the placers. Sublette, who from his bravery and 
daring has obtained among the Indians the name of Kee-ta-tah- 
ve-sak, or One-who-walks-in-fire, is a man of about thirty-seven, 
of fair complexion, long brown hair and beard, and a countenance 
expressing the extreme of manly frankness and integrity. Lieut. 
Beale, who has the highest admiration of his qualities, related to 
me many instances of his heroic character. Preuss and Kreuz- 
feldt, Fremont's old campaigners, who so narrowly escaped per- 
ishing among the snows of the central chain, were at the Miner's 
Home, at the time of our stay. 

x\bout noon we saddled our mules, laid in a stock of provisions 
and started for Stockton. At the outset, it was almost impossible 
to keep the animals in order ; Picayune, in spite of his load, 
dashed out into the mustard fields, and Ambrose, our brown mule, 
led us off in all sorts of zigzag chases. The man to whom we had 
paid $2 a head for their night's lodging and fare, had absolutely 
starved them, and the poor beasts resisted our efforts to make them 
travel. In coursing after them through the tall weeds, we got off 
the trail, and it was some time before we made much progress 
towards the Mission of San Jose. The valley, fifteen miles in 
Dreadth, is well watered and may be made to produce the finest 



A SONORIAN COMRADE. 71 

wheat crops in the world. It is perfectly level and dotted all ovei 
its surface with clumps of magnificent oaks, cypresses and syca- 
mores. A few miles west of the Pueblo there is a large forest of 
red wood, or California cypress, and the quicksilver mines of Santa 
Clara are in the same vicinity. Sheltered from the cold winds of 
the sea, the climate is like that of Italy. The air is a fluid balm. 

Before traveling many miles we overtook a Sonorian riding on 
his hurro or jackass, with a wooden bowl hanging to the saddle 
and a crowbar and lance slung crosswise before him. "We offered 
him the use of our extra mule if he would join us. to which he 
gave a willing consent. Burro was accordingly driven loose laden 
with the gold-hunting tools, and oui- Bedouin, whom we christened 
Tompkins, trotted beside us well pleased. At the Mission of San 
Jose we dispatched him to buy meat, and for half a dollar he 
brought us at least six yards, salted and slightly dried for trans- 
portation. The Mission — a spacious stone building, with court- 
yard and long corridors — is built upon the lower slope of the 
mountains dividing San Francisco Bay from the San Joaquin 
valley, and a garden extends behind it along the banks of a little 
stream. 

The sight of a luxuriant orchard peeping over th*e top of its 
mud walls, was too tempting to be resisted, so, leaving Lieutenant 
Beale to jog ahead with Tompkins and the loose animals, Colonel 
Lyons and myself rode up the hill, scrambled over and found 
ourselves in a wilderness of ripening fruit. Hundreds of pear 
and apple trees stood almost breaking with their harvest, which 
lay rotting by cart-loads on the ground. Plums, grapes, figs and 
other fruits, not yet ripened, filled the garden. I shall never 
forget how grateful the pears of San Joss were to our parched 
throats, nor what an alarming quantity we ate before we found it 



72 ELDORADO. 

possible to stop. I have been told that the garden is irrigated 
during the dry season, and that where this method is practicable, 
fruit trees of all kinds can be made to yield to a remarkable 
extent. 

Immediately on leaving the Mission we struck into a narrow 
canon among the mountains, and following its windings reached 
the " divide," or ridge which separates the streams, in an hour. 
From the summit the view extended inland over deep valleys and 
hazy mountain ranges as far as the vision could reach. Lines of 
beautiful timber followed the course of the arroyos down the sides, 
streaking the yellow hue of the wild oats, which grew as thickly 
as an ordinary crop at home. Descending to a watered valley, we 
heard some one shouting from a slope on our left, where a herd of 
cattle was grazing. It was Lieut. Beale, who had chosen our 
camping-ground in a little glen below, under a cluster of oaks. 
We unpacked, watered our mules, led them up a steep ascent, 
and picketed them in a thick bed of oats. I had taken the lash- 
rope, of plaited raw-hide, for the p'crpose of tethering Ambrose, 
but Tomj5kins, who saw me, cried : " Cuidado ! hay hastanU 
coyotes aqui^'''' (Take care ! there are pl'mty of coyotes here)— 
which animals invariably gnaw in twain all kinds of ropes except 
hemp and horse-hair. The picketing done, we set about cooking 
our supper ; Tompkins was very active in making the fire, and 
.when all was ready, produced a good dish of stewed beef and 
tortillas, to which we added some ham, purchased in San Jose 
at eighty cents the pound. We slept under the branching 
curtains of our glen chamber, wakened only once or twice by the 
howling of the coyotes and the sprinkling of rain in our faces 
By sunrise wo had breakfast and started again. 

The first twenty miles of our journey passed through one uf 



CROSSING THE COAST RANGE. 73 

the most beautiful regions in the world. The broad oval valleys, 
shaded by magnificent oaks and enclosed by the lofty mountains 
of the Coast Kange, open beyond each other like a suite of palace 
chambers, each charming more than the last. The land is 
admirably adapted for agricultural or grazing purposes, and in a 
few years will become one of the most flourishing districts in 
California. 

We passed from these into hot, scorched plains, separated by 
low rano-es of hills, on one of which is situated Livermore's 
Ranche, whose owner, Mr. Livermore, is the oldest American 
resident in the country, having emigrated thither in 1820. He is 
married to a native woman, and seems to have entirely outgrown 
his former habits of life. We obtainad from hhn dinner for 
ourselves and mules at §2 25 each ; and finding there was neither 
grass nor water for twenty-five miles, made an early start for our 
long afternoon's ride. The road entered another caiion, through 
which we toilod for miles before reaching tli3 last " divide." On 
the summit we met 'several emigrant companies with wagons, 
coming from Sutter's Mill. The children, as browti and wild- 
looking as Indians, trudged on in the dust, before the oxen, and 
several girls of twelve years old, rode behind on horses, keeping 
together the loose animals of the party. Their invariable greeting 
was : " How far to water .^" 

From the top of the divide we hailed with a shout the great 

plain of San Joaquin, visible through the openings among the 

hills, like a dark-blue ocean, to which t!i ^ leagues of wild oats 

made a vast beach of yellow sand. At least a hundred miles of 

its surface were visible, and the hazy air, made more dense by the 

smoke of the burning tule marshes, alone prevented us from 

seeing the snowy outline of the Sierra Nevada After descending 
VOL. I. 4 



74 ELDORADO. 



and traveling a dozen miles on the hot, arid level, we reaclK<] a 
j-lough making out from the San Joaquin. The sun had long been 
down, but a bright quarter-moon was in the sky, by whose light 
we selected a fine old tree for our place of repose. A tent, 
belonging to some other travelers, was pitched at a little distance. 

Feeling the ground with our hands to find the spots where tlie 
grass was freshest, we led our mules into a little tongue of 
meadow-land, half-embraced by the slough, and tied them to the 
low branches, giving them the full benefit of their tether. Tomp- 
kins complained of illness, and rolling himself in his sarape, lay 
down on the plain, under the open sky. We were too hungry to 
dispose of the day so quickly ; a yard of jerked beef was cut ofi", and 
while Lieut. Beale prepared it for cooking, Col. Lyons and my- 
self wandered about in the shadow of the trees, picking up every- 
thing that cracked under our feet. The clear red blaze of the 
fire made our oak-tree an enchanted palace. Its great arms, that 
arched high above us and bent down till they nearly reached the 
ground, formed a hollow dome around the columnar trunk, which 
was fretted'and embossed with a thousand ornaments of foliage. 
The light streamed up, momentarily, reddening the deeps within 
deeps of the bronze-like leaves ; then sinking low again, the sha- 
dows returned and the stars winked brightly between the wreathed 
muUions of our fantastic windows. 

The meal finished, we went towards the tent in our search for 
water. Several sleepers, rolled in their blankets, were stretched 
under the trees, and two of them, to our surprise, were enjoying 
the luxury of musquito bars. On the bank of the slough, we 
found a shallow well, covered with dead boughs ; Lieut. Beale, 
stretching his hand down towards the water, took hold of a snake, 
which was even more startled than he. Our quest was repaid by 



THE aiOSQUITOS AND THE FLRRY. 75 

a hearty draught, notwithstanding its earthy flavor, and we betooi 
ourselves to sleep. The mosquitos were terribly annoying ; after 
many vain attempts to escape them, I was forced to roll a blanket 
around my head, by which means I could sleep till I began to 
smother, and then repeat the operation. Waking about mid- 
night, confused and flushed with this business, I saw the moon, 
looming fiery and large on the horizon. " Surely," thought I, 
with a half-awake wandering of fancy, " the moon has been bitten 
by mosquitos, and that is the reason why her face is so swollen 
and inflamed." 

Five miles next morning took us to the San Joaquin, which was 
about thirty yards in width. Three Yankees had " squatted" at 
th'.- crossing, and established a ferry ; the charge for carrying 
over a man and horse was $2, and as this route was much traveled, 
their receipts ranged from $500 to $1,000 daily. In addition to 
this, they had a tavern and grazing camp, which were very pro- 
fitable. They built the ferry-boat, which was a heavy flat, hauled 
across with a rope, with their own hands, as well as a launch of 
sixty tons, doing a fine business between Stockton and San Fran- 
cisco. Tompkins, who perhaps imagined that some witchcraft of 
ours had occasioned his illness, here left us, and we saw his 
swarthy face no more. Disengaging our loose mules from a corral 
full of horses, into which they had dashed, from a sudden freak 
of affection, we launched into another plain, crossed in all direc- 
tions by tule swamps, and made towards a dim shore of timbei 
twelve miles distant. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CAMP-LIFE, \ND A RIDE TO THE DIGGINGS. 

As we came off the scorching calm of the plain into the shadow 
of the trees, we discerned two tents ahead, on a gentle knoll. 
This was the camp of Major Graham, who commanded the expe- 
dition sent from Monterey, Mexico, overland into California, in 
the summer of 1848. He was employing a little time, before re- 
turning home, in speculating on his own account and had estab- 
lished himself near Stockton with a large herd of horses and cattle, 
on which he was making good profits. Lieut. Beale was an old 
acquaintance of the Major's, and as friends of the former we were 
made equally welcome. We found him sitting on a camp-stool, 
outside the tent, wearing a hunting-jacket and broad-brimmed 
white hat. With a prompt hospitality that would take no denial, 
he ordered our mules driven out to his cahallada^ had our packs 
piled U23 in the shade of one of his oaks, and gave directions for 
dinner. For four days thereafter we saw the stars through hit^ 
tree-tops, between our dreams, and shared the abundant fare of 
his camp-table, varying the delightful repose of such life by an 
occasional gallop into Stockton. Mi. Callahan, an old settler, who 
had pitched his tent near Major Graham's, went out every morning 
to hunt elk among the tule, and we were daily supplied with steaks 



STOOKTJN 77 

and cutlets from his spoils. In the early morning the elk might 
be seen in bands of forty or fifty, grazing on the edge of the 
marshes, where they were sometimes lasso ?d by the native vaque- 
ros, and taken into Stockton. We saw the coyotes occasionally 
prowling along the margin of the slough, but they took good care- 
to sneak off before a chance could be had to shoot them. The 
plain was perforated in all directions by the holes of a large bur- 
rowing squirrel, of a gray color, and flocks of magpies and tufted 
partridges made their covert in the weeds and wild oats. 

Our first visit to Stockton was made, in company, on some ol 
Major Graham's choicest horses. A mettled roan canalo fell to 
my share, and the gallop of five miles without check was most in- 
spiring. A view of Stockton was something to be remembered. 
There, in the heart of California, where the last winter stood a 
solitary ranche in the midst of tule marshes, I found a canvas 
town of a thousand inhabitants, and a port with twenty-five vessels 
at anchor ! The mingled noises of labor around — the click of 
of hammers and the grating of saws — the shouts of mule drivers 
— the jingling of spurs — the jar apd jostle of wares in the tents — 
almost cheated me into the belief that it was some old commercial 
mart, familiar with such soun''ls for years past. Four months, 
only, had sufficed to make the place what it was ; and in that time 
a wholesale firm established there (one out of a dozen) had done 
business to the amount of $100,000. The same party had just 
purchased a lot eighty by one hundred feet, on the principal street, 
for $6,000, and the cost of erecting a common one-story clapboard 
house on it was $15,000. 

I can liken my days at Major Graham's camp to no previous 
phase of my existence. They were the realization of a desire 
sometime? felt, sometimes expressed in poetry, but rarely enjoyed 



78 ELDORADO. 

in oomplete fulfilment. In the repose of Nature, unbroken day 
or night ; the subtle haze pervading the air, softening all sights 
and subduing all sounds ; the still, breathless heat of the day and 
the starry hush of the night — tlie oak-tree was for me a perfect 
Castle of Indolence. Lying at full length on the ground, in list- 
less ease, whichever way I looked my eye met the same enchanting 
groupage of the oaks, the same glorious outlines and massed sha- 
dows of foliage; while frequent openings, through 'the farthest 
clumps, gave boundless glimpses of the plain beyond. Scarcely 
a leaf stirred in the slumberous air ; and giving way to the deli- 
cate languor that stole in upon my brain, I seemed to lie apart 
from my own mind and to watch the lazy waves of thought that 
sank on its shores without a jar. All effort — even the memory ol 
effort — came like a sense of pain. It was an abandonment to 
rest, like that of the *' Lotos-Eaters," and the feeling of these 
lines, not the words, was with me constantly : 

" Why should we toil alone, 
We only toil, who are the first of things, 
And make perpetual moan, 
Still from one sorrow to another thrown ; 
Nor ever fold our wings 
And cease from wanderings, 
Nor steep our brows in slumber's holy balm: 
Nor barken what the inner spirit sings, 
' There is no joy but cu.m !' " 

There is one peculiarity about the Californian oaks, which I do 
not remember to have seen noticed. In the dry heat of the long 
summer seasons, their fibre becomes brittle, and frequently at 
noon-day, when not a breath of air is stirring, one of their stout 
arms parts from the trunk without the slightest warning sound, 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN MEN. 79 

and drops bodily to the earth. More than one instance is related, 
in which persons have been killed by their fall. For this reason 
the native Californians generally camp outside of the range of the 
limbs. 

After discussing our further plans, it was decided to visit th(» 
Mokelumne Diggings, which were the most accessible from Stock- 
ton. Accordingly, on Monday morning, our mules were driven 
in from the plain and saddled for the journey. The sun was 
shining hotly as we rode over the plain to Stockton, and the tent- 
streets of the miraculous town glowed like the avenues of a brick- 
Kiln. The thermometer stood at 98°, and the parched, sandy soil 
burnt through our very boot-soles. We therefore determined to 
wait itill evening before starting for another stage to the Moke- 
lumne. While waiting in the tent of Mr. Belt, the alcalde of the 
place, I made acquaintance with two noted mountaineers — Mr 
William Knight, the first man who followed in the track of Lewis 
and Clark, on the Columbia Kiver, and White Elliott, a young 
Missourian, who for ten years had been rambling through New 
Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. The latter had been one of 
Lieut. Beale's men on the Gila, and the many perils they then 
shared gave their present meeting a peculiar interest. Elliott, 
who, young as he was, had undergone everything that could harden 
and toughen a man out of all sensibility, colored like a young girl; 
his eyes were wet and he scarcely found voice to speak. I had 
many opportunities of seeing him afterwards and appreciating hi3 
thorough nobleness and sincerity of character. 

Mr. Raney, who had just established a line of conveyance to 
the Mokelumne, kindly offered to accompany us as far as his 
ranche on the Calaveras River, twenty-four miles distant. We 
started at four o'clock, when a pleasant breeze had sprung up. 



80 ELDORADO. 

and rode on over the level plain, through beautiful groves of oak 
The trail was crossed by deep, dry arroyos, which, in the rainj 
season, make the country almost impassable ; now, however, the 
very beds of the tule marshes were beginning to dry up The air 
was thicker than evei with the smoke of burning tule, and as we 
journeyed along in the hazy moonlight, the lower slopes of the 
mountains were not visible till we reached Mr. Eaney's ranche, 
which lies at their base. We gave our tired mules a good feed of 
barley, and, after an excellent supper which he had prepared, be- 
took ourselves to rest. The tent was made of saplings, roofed 
with canvas, but had cost $1,000 ; the plain all around was 
covered deep with dust, which the passing trains of mules kept 
constantly in the air. Nevertheless, for the first time in several 
days, we slept in a bed — the bed of Calaveras Kiver, and in the 
deepest hollow of its gold-besprinkled sands. The stream, which 
in the spring is thirty feet deep, was perfectly dry, and the timber 
on its banks made a roof far above, which shut out the wind and 
sand, but let in the starlight. Heaping the loose gravel for pil- 
lows, we enjoyed a delightful sleep, interrupted only once by the 
howling of a large gray wolf, prowling in the thickets over us. 

While waiting for breakfast, I saw a curious exemplification of 
the careless habits of the miners, in regard to money. One of 
the mule-drivers wanted to buy a pistol which belonged to an- 
other, and as the article was in reality worth next to nothing, 
offered him three dollars for it. "I will sell nothing for such a 
beggarly sum," said the owner: "you are welcome to take the 
pistol." The other took it, but kid the three dollars on a log, say- 
ing : " you must take it, for I shall never touch it again." " Well," 
was the reply, " then I'll do what I please with it ;" and he flung 
the dollars into the road and walked away. An. Irishman whc 



FIERY TRAVEL THE MULE's HEART. 81 

Stood by, raked in the dust for some time, but only recovered 
about half the money. 

Leaving the ranche soon after sunrise,- we entered the hills. 
The country was dotted with picturesque clumps of oak, and, as 
the ground became higher and more broken, with pines of splen 
did growth. Around their feet were scattered piles of immense 
cones, which had been broken up for the sake of the spicy kernels 
they contain. Trails of deer could be seen on all the hills, lead- 
ing down to chance green spots in the hollows, which a month since 
furnished water. Now, however, the ground was parched as in a 
furnace ; the vegetation snapped like glass under the hoofs of our 
mules, and the cracks and seams in the arid soil seemed to give 
out an intense heat from some subterranean fire. In' the glens 
afid caJmdas^ where the little air stirring was cut off, the mercury 
rose to 110° ; perspiration was dried as soon as formed, and T 
began to think I should soon be done to a turn. 

After traveling about fourteen miles, we were joined by three 
miners, and our mules, taking a sudden liking for their horses, 
jogged on at a more brisk rata. The instincts of the mulish heart 
form an interesting study to the traveler in the mountains. I 
would, were the comparison not too ungallant, liken it to a wo- 
man's, for it is quite as uncertain in its sympathies, bestowing its 
affections where least expected, and when bestowed, quite as con- 
stant, so long as the object is not taken away. Sometimes a horse, 
sometimes an ass, captivates the fancy of a whole drove of mules ; 
but often an animal nowise akin. Lieut. Bealo told me that his 
whole train of mules once took a stampede on the plains of the 
Cimarone, and ran half a mile, when they halted in apparent satis- 
faction. The cause of their freak was found to be a buffalo calf, 

which had strayed from the herd. They were frisking around il 
4* 



82 ELDORADO. 

in the greatest delightj rubbing their noses against it, throwing up 
thair heels and making themselves ridiculous by abortive attempts 
to neigh and bray, while the poor calf, unconscious of its attractive 
qualities, stood trembling in their midst. It is customary to 
have a horse in the atajos^ or mule-trains, of the traders in 
Northern Mexico, as a sort of magnet to keep together the soparat'? 
atoms of the train, for, whatever the temptation, they will never 
stray far from him. 

We turned from the main road, which led to the Upper Bar 
and took a faint trail leading over the hills to the Lower Bar. 
The winding caJion up which we passed must be a paradise in 
Spring ; even at the close of August the dry bed of the stream 
was shaded by trees of every picturesque form that a painter 
could desire. Crossing several steep spurs, we reached the top 5f 
the divide overlooking the Mokelumne Valley, and here one of 
the most charming mountain landscapes in the world opened to 
our view. Under our very feet, as it seemed, flowed the river, 
and a little corner of level bottom, wedged between the bases of 
the hills, was dotted with the tents of the gold-hunters, whom we 
could see burrowing along the water. The mountains, range 
behind range, spotted with timber, made a grand, indistinct 
background in the smoky air, — a large, fortress-like butte, toward 
the Cosumne River, the most prominent of all. Had the atmos- 
phere been clearer, the snowy crown of the Nevada, beyond all, 
would have made the picture equal to any in Tyrol. 

Coming down the almost perpendicular side of the hill, my 
Baddle began to slip over the mule's straight shoulders, and, dis- 
mounting, I waded the rest of the way knee-deep in dust. Near 
the bottom we came upon the Sonorian Town, as it was called, 
from the number of Mexican miners encamped there. The place^ 



ARRIVAL AT THE DIGGINGS. 8.*^ 

wLicli was a regularly laid-out town of sapling liou&os, without 
walls and roofed with loose oak boughs, had sprung up in the 
wilderness in three weeks : there were probably three hundred 
persons living in or near it. Under the open canopies of oak we 
heard, as we passed along, the jingle of coin at the monte tables, 
and saw crowds gathered to watch the progress of the game. 
One of the first men Lieutenant Beale saw was Baptiste Perrot, 
a mountaineer who had been in his overland party. He kept a 
hotel, which was an open space under a branch roof ; the 
appliances were two tables of rough plank, (one for meals and 
one for monte,) with logs resting on forked limbs as seats, and a 
bar of similar materials, behind which was ranged a goodly stock 
of liquors and preserved provisions. We tethered our mules to a 
stump in the rear of the hotel, hastened supper, and made our- 
sjK'cs entirely at home. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE DIGGINGS ON MOKELUMNE RIVER. 

Our first move was for the river bottom, where a number of 
Americans, Sonorians, Kanakas and French were at work in the 
hot sun. The bar, as it was called, was nothing more nor less 
than a level space at the junction of the river with a dry arroyo 
or " gulch,'' which winds for about eight miles among the hills 
It was hard and rocky, with no loose sand except such as had 
lodged between the large masses of stone, which must of course be 
thrown aside to get at the gold. The whole space, containing 
about four acres, appeared to have been turned over with great 
labor, and all the holes slanting down between the broken strata 
of slate, to have been explored to the bottom. No spot could ap- 
pear more unpromising to the inexperienced gold-hunter. Yet 
the Sonorians, washing out the loose dust and dirt which they 
scraped up among the rocks, obtained from $10 to two ounces 
daily. The first party we saw had just succeeded in cutting a 
new channel for the shrunken waters of the Mokelumne, and were 
commencing operations on about twenty yards of the river-bed, 
which they had laid bare. They were ten in number, and their 
only implements were shovels, a rude cradle for the top layer of 
earth, and flat wooden bowls for washino; out the sands. Bap- 



GOLD IN THE KIVER-EED. 85 

tiste took one of the bowls which was full of sand, and in five 
minutes showed us a dozen grains of biight gold. The company 
had made in the forenoon about three pounds ; we watched them 
at their work till the evening, when three pounds more were 
produced, making an average of seven ounces for each man. The 
gold was of the purest qurlity and most beautiful color. When I 
first saw the men, carrying heavy stones in the sun, standing nearly 
waist-deep in water, and grubbing with their hands in the gravel 
and clay, there seemed to me little virtue in resisting the tempta- 
tion to gold digging ; but when the shining particles were poured 
out lavishly from a tin basin, I confess there was a sudden itching 
in my fingers to seize the heaviest crowbar and the biggest shovel. 

A company of thirty, somewhat further down the river, had 
made a much larger dam, after a month's labor, and a hundred 
yards of the bed were clear. They commenced washing in the 
afternoon and obtained a very encouraging result. The next 
morning, however, they quarreled, as most companies do, and 
finally applied to Mr. James and Dr. Gillette, two of the prin- 
cipal operators, to settle the difficulty by having the whole bed 
washed out at their own expense and taking half the gold. As 
all the heavy work was done, the contractors expected to make a 
considerable sum by the operation. IMany of the Americans em- 
ployed Sonorians and Indians to work for them, giving them half 
the gold and finding them in provisions. Notwithstanding the 
enormous prices of every article of food, these people could be 
kept for about a dollar daily — consequently those who hire them 
profited handsomely. 

After we had taken the sharp edge oiF our curiosity, we re- 
turned to our quarters. Dr. Gillette, Mr. James, Captain Tracy 
and several other of the miners entertained us with a hospitality 



86 ELDORADO. 

as gratifying as it was unexpected. In the evening we sat down 
to a supper prepared by Baptiste and his partner, Mr. Fisher, 
which completed my astonishment at the resources of that won- 
derful land. There, in the rough depth of the hills, where three 
weeks before there was scarcely a tent, and where we expected to 
live on jerked beef and bread, we saw on the table green corn, 
green peas and beans, fresh oysters, roast turkey, fine Goshon 
butter and excellent coffee. I will not pretend to say what they 
cost, but I began to think that the fable of Aladdin was nothing 
very remarkable, after all. The genie will come, and had come 
to many whom I saw in California ; but the rubbing of the lamp 
-r-aye, there's the rub. There is nothing in the world so hard on 
the hands. 

I slept soundly that night on the dining-table, and went down 
early to the river, where I found the party of ten bailing out the 
water which had leaked into the river-bed during the night. 
They were standing in the sun, and had two hours' hard work be- 
fore they could begin to wash. Again the prospect looked unin- 
viting, but when I went there again towards noon, one of them 
was scraping up the sand from the bed with his knife, and throw- 
ing it into a basin, the bottom of which glittered with gold. 
Every knifeful brought out a quantity of grains and scales, some 
of which were as large as the finger-nail. At last a two-ounce 
lump fell plump into the pan, and the diggers, now in the best 
possible humor, went on with their work with great alacrity; 
Their forenoon's digging amounted to nearly six pounds. It is 
only by such operations as these, through associated labor, that 
great profits are to be made in those districts which have been 
visited by the first eager horde of gold hunters. The deposits 
most easily reached are soon exhausted by the crowd, and the 



THE SONORIANS. 87 

labor required to carry on further work successfully deters siiip:le 
individuals from attempting it. Those who, retaining their 
health, return home disappointed, say they have been humbugge-] 
about the gold, when in fact, they have humbugged themselves 
about the work. If any one expects to dig treasures out of the 
earth, in California, without severe labor, he is wofully mistaken. 
Of all classes of men, those who pave streets and quarry limestone 
are best adapted for gold diggers. 

Wherever there is gold, there are gamblers. Our little village 
boasted of at least a dozen monte tables, all of which were fre- 
quented at night by the Americans and Mexicans. The Sono- 
rians left a large portion of their gold at the gaming tables, 
though it was calculated they had taken $5,000,000 out of the 
country during the summer. The excitement against them pre- 
vailed also, on the Mokelumne, and they were once driven away; 
they afterwards quietly returned, and in most cases worked in 
companies, for the benefit and under the protection of some 
American. They labor steadily and faithfully, and are considered 
honest, if well watched. The first colony of gold-hunters at- 
tempted to drive out all foreigners, without distinction, as well as 
native Galifornians. Don Andres Pico, who was located on the 
same river, had some diflSculty with them until they could be 
made to understand that his right as a citizen was equal to theirs 

Dr. Gillette, to whom wo were indebted for many kind atten- 
tions, related to mo the manner of his finding the rich gulch 
which attracted so many to the Mokelumne Diggings. The word 
gulchj which is in general use throughout the diggings, may not 
»e familiar to many ears, though its sound somehow expresses its 
meaning, witho-;! further definition. It denotes a mountain ravine 
diflferinf]^ from ravines elsewhere as the mountains of California 



^H ELDORADO. 

difFc'V from all others — more steep, abiupt and inaccessible. The 
sound of gulck is like that of a sudden plunge into a deep hole 
which is just the character of the thing itself. It bears the same 
relation to a ravine that a " canon" does to a pass or gorge. 
About two months previous to our arrival, Dr. Gillette came 
down from the Upper Bar with a companion, to "prospect" for 
gold among the ravines in the neighborhood. There were no 
persons there at the time, except some Indians belonging to the 
tribe of Jose Jesus. One day at noon, while resting in the shade 
of a tree. Dr. G. took a pick and began carelessly turning up the 
ground. Almost on the surface, he struck and threw out a lump 
of gold of about two pounds weight. Inspired by this unexpected 
result, they both went to work, laboring all that day and the next, 
and even using part of the night to quarry out the heavy pieces 
of rock. At the end of the second day they went to the village 
on the Upper Bar and weighed their profits, which amounted to 
fourteen pounds ! They started again the third morning under 
pretence of hunting, but were suspected and followed by the other 
diggers, who came upon them just as they commenced work. 
The news rapidly spread, and there was soon a large number of 
men on the spot, some of whom obtained several pounds per 
day, at the start. The gulch had been well dug up for the large 
lumps, but there was still great wealth in the earth and sand, and 
several operators only waited for the wet season to work it in a 
systematic manner. 

The next day Col. Lyons, Dr. Gillette and myself set out on a 
visit to the scene of these rich discoveries. Climbing up the 
rocky bottom of the gulch, as by a staircase, for four miles, we 
found nearly every part of it dug up and turned over by the 
picks of the mmers. Deep holes, sunk between the solid strata 



THE PROCESS OF DRY-WASHING. 89 

or iuto the precipitous sides of the mountains, showed where veins 
of the metal had been struck and followed as long as they yielded 
lumps large enough to pay for the labor. The loose earth, which 
they had excavated, was full of fine gold, and only needed washing 
out. A number of Sonorians were engaged in dry washing this 
refuse sand — a work which requii-es no little skill, and would soon 
kill any other men than these lank and skinny Arabs of the West. 
Their mode of work is as follows : — Gathering the loose dry sand 
in bowls, they raise it to their heads and slowly pour it upon a 
blanket spread at their feet. Repeating this several times, and 
throwing out the worthless pieces of rock, they reduce the dust to 
about half its bulk ; then, balancing the bowl on one hand, by 
a quick, dexterous motion of the other they cause it to revolve, 
at the same time throwing its contents into the air and catching 
them as they fall. In this manner everything is finally winnowed 
away except the heavier grains of sand mixed with gold, which is 
carefully separated by the breath. It is a laborious occupation, 
md one which, fortunately, the American diggers have not at- 
tempted. This breathing the fine dust from day to day, under a 
more than torrid sun, would soon impair the strongest lungs. 

We found many persons at work in the higher part of the gulch, 
eearching for veins and pockets of gold, in the holes which had 
already produced their first harvest. Some of these gleaners, 
following the lodes abandoned by others as exhausted, into the 
sides of the mountain, were well repaid for their perseverance. 
Others, again, had been working for days without finding anything. 
Those who understood the business obtained from one to four 
ounces daily. Their only tools were the crowbar, pick and knife^ 
and many of them, following the veins under strata of rock which 
U y (leop below the surface, were obliged to work while lyin,^- flat 



90 ' ELDORADO. 

on their backs, in cramped and narrow holes, sometimes kept moist 
by springs. They were shielded, however, from the burning heats. 
and preserved their health better than those who worked on the 
bars of the river. 

There are thousands of similar gulches among the mountains, 
nearly all of which undoubtedly contain gold. Those who are fa- 
miliar with geology, or by carefully noting the character of the 
soil and strata where gold is already found, have learned its indi- 
cations, rarely fail in the selection of new spots for digging. It ia 
the crowd of those who, deceived in their extravagant hopes, dis- 
heartened by the severe labor necessary to be undergone, and 
bereft of that active and observing spirit which could not fail to 
win success at last, that cry out with such bitterness against the 
golden stories which first attracted them to the country. I met 
with hundreds of such persons, many of whom have returned home 
disgusted forever with California. They compared the diggings 
to a lottery, in which people grew rich only by accident or luck. 
There is no such thing as accident in Nature, and in proportion 
as men understand her, the more sure a clue they have to her 
buried treasures. There is more gold in California than ever was 
said or imagined : ages will not exhaust the supply. From what 
I first saw on the Mokelumne, I was convinced that the fabled 
Cibao of Columbus, splendid as it seemed to his eager imagination, 
is more than realized there. 

I went up in the ravines one morning, for about two miles, 
looking for game. It was too late in the day for deer, and I saw 
but one antelope, which fled like the wind over the top of the 
mountain. I started a fine hare, similar in appearance to the 
European, but of larger size. A man riding down the trail, from 
*he Double Spring, told us he had counted seven doer early in the 



"stories of the gold-diggers. 91 

morning, beside numbers of antelopes and partridges. Tho 
grizzly bear and large mountain wolf are frequently seen in the 
more thickly timbered ravines. The principal growth of the 
mountains is oak and the California pine, which rises like a spire 
to the height of two hundred feet. The pi/ions, or cones, are 
much larger and of finer flavor, than those of the Italian stone- 
pine. As far as I could see from the ridges which I clinibed, the 
mountains were as well timbered as the soil and climate will allow. 
A little more rain would support as fine forests as the world can 
produce. The earth was baked to a cinder, and from 11 A. M. 
to 4 P. M. the mercury ranged between 98° and 110°. 

There was no end to the stories told by the diggers, of theii 
own and others' experiences in gold-hunting. I could readily 
have made up a small volume from those I heard during the four 
days I spent on the Mokelumne. In the dry diggings especially, 
where the metal frequently lies deep, many instances are told of 
men who have dug two or three days and given up in despair, 
while others, coming after them and working in the same holes, 
have taken out thousands of dollars in a short time. I saw a man 
who came to the river three weeks before my visit, without money, 
to dig in the dry gulch. Being very lazy, he chose a spot under 
a shady tree, and dug leisurely for two days without making a cent 
He then gave up the place, when a little German jumped into hia 
tracks and after a day's hard work weighed out $800. The un- 
lucky digger then borrowed five ounces and started a boarding- 
house. The town increased so fast that the night I arrived he 
sold out his share (one-third) of the concern for $1,200. Men 
were not troubled by the ordinary ups and downs of business, when 
't was so easy for one of any enterprise to recover his foothold. If 
^ person lost his all, he was perfectly indifferent ; two weeks of 



92 ELDORADO 

hard work gave him enough to start on, and two months, mth the 
usual luck, quite reinstated him. 

The largest piece found in the rich gulch weighed eleven 
pounds. Mr. James, who had been on the river since April, 
showed me a lump weighing sixty- two ounces — pure, unadul- 
terated gold. We had a visit one day from Don Andres Pico, 
commander of the California forces during the war. He had a 
company of men digging at the Middle Bar, about a mile above. 
He is an urbane, intelligent man, of medium stature, and of a 
natural gentility of character which made him quite popular among 
the emigrants. 

From all I saw and heard, while at the Mokelumne Diggings, I 
judged there was as much order and security as could be attained 
without a civil organization. The inhabitants had elected one of 
their own number Alcalde, before whom all culprits were tried by 
a jury selected for the purpose. Several thefts had occurred, and 
the offending parties been severely punished after a fair trial 
Some had been whipped and cropped, or maimed in some other 
way, and one or two of them hung. Two or three who had 
Btolen largely had been shot down by the injured party, the gen- 
eral feeling among the miners justifying such a course when nn 
other seemed available. "We met near Livermore's Ranche, on 
the way to Stockton, a man whose head had been shaved and his 
ears cut off, after receiving one hundred lashes, for stealing ninety- 
eight pounds of gold. It may conflict with popular ideas of mo- 
rality, but, nevertheless, this extreme course appeared to have 
produced good results. In fact, in a country without not only 
bolts and bars, but any effective system of law and government, 
this Spartan severity of discipline seemed the only security against 
the most frightful disorder. The result was that, except some petty 



COST OF OUR VISIT. 93 

acts of larceny, thefts were rare. Horses and muleb were some- 
times taken, but the risk was so great that such plunder could not 
be carried on to any extent. The camp or tent was held invio- 
late, and like the patriarchal times ^f old, its cover protected all 
it enclosed. Among all well-disposed persons there was a tacit 
disposition to make the canvas or pavilion of rough oak-boughs as 
sacred as once were the portals ©f a church. 

Our stay was delayed a day by the illness of Lieut. Beale, who 
had been poisoned a few days previous by contact with the rhus 
toxicodendron J which is very common in California. His impa- 
tience to reach San Francisco wa© so great that on Saturday after- 
noon, we got ready to return to Stockton. Our bill at the hoteJ 
was $11 a day for man and mule — $4 for the man and $7 for the 
mule. This did not include lodgings, which each traveler was ey - 
pected to furnish for himself. Some flight medical attendance, 
furnished to Lieut. Beale, was valued at $48. The high price 
of mule-keep was owing to the fact of barley being $1 per quart 
and grass $1 per handful. Dr. Gillette took a lame horse which 
had just come down from a month's travel among the snowy 
ridges, where his rider had been shot with an Indian arrow, and 
set out to accompany us as far as Stockton. One of our mules, 
which was borrowed for the occasion at Raney's Kanche, had 
been reclaimed by its owner, and I was thus reduced to the ne- 
cessity of footing it. In this order, we left the town just before 
sunset, and took a mule-path leading up the steep ascent. 



, CHAPTER X. 

A GALLOP TO STOCKTON, WITH SOME WORDS ON LAW AND 
SOCIETY. 

Instead of retracing our steps tLrough tlie fiery depth of the 
caiion, we turned off eastward through a gap in the hills and took 
a road leading to the Double Spring. The doctor insisted on my 
mounting behind him on the limping horse, and we had an odd 
ride of it, among the dusky glens and hollows. At the Double 
Spring, where a large tent was pitched, three of us were furnished 
with supper, at a cost of $11 — not an exorbitant price, if our ap- 
petites were considered. It was decided to push on the same 
night to another ranche, seven miles distant, and I started in ad- 
vance, on foot. The road passed between low hills, covered with 
patches of chapparal, the usual haunt of grizzly bears. I looked 
sharply at every bush, in the dim moonlight ; my apprehensions 
were a little raised by the thought of a miner whom I had seen one 
evening come down to the Mokclumne, pale as a sheet, after hav- 
ing been chased some distance by a huge she-bear, and by the 
story told me at the Double Spring, of the bones of two men, 
picked clean, having been found on the road I was traveling. I 
was not sorry, therefore, to hear the halting tramp of the doctor's 
horse behind me ; the others came up after awhile, and we 



.' VPROPRIATING A HORSE. 9ft 

reached the tent The landlord lay asleep in one corner ; ^e 
tied our animals to a tree, made one bed in common against the 
Bide of the tent, and were soon locked in sound repose. 

Lieut. Beale, who was stUl unwell and anxious to hurry on, 
woke us at the peep of day, and after giving a spare feed to our 
mules, we took the road again. As the doctor and I, mounted on 
the lame horse, were shuffling along in advance, we espied a ven- 
erable old animal before us, walking in the same direction. The 
doctor slipped off the bridle, ran forward and caught him without 
any difficulty. There was.no sign of any camp to be seen, and 
we came to the conclusion that the horse was an estray, and we 
might therefore lawfully make use of him. He was the most gro- 
tesque specimen of horseflesh I ever saw — lame like our own — 
and with his forehead broken in above the eyes, which did not 
prevent his having a nose of most extraordinary length and pro- 
minence. The doctor bridled him and mounted, leaving me hie 
own horse and saddle, so that we were about equally provided. 
By dint of shouting and kicking we kept the beasts in a sort of 
shambling gallop till we reached Eaney's Ranche, where the doctor 
took the precaution of removing the bridle and letting the horse 
stand loose ; the custom of the miners being, to shoot a man who 
puts his gear on your horse and rides him without leave. 

As it happened, the precaution was not ill-timed ; for, whil( 
we lay inside the tent on a couple of benches, we heard an ex 
clamation from some one outside. " There you are !" said th.' 
voice ; " what do you mean, you old rascal ? how came you here 
you know you never left me before, you know you did n't !"— 
Then, turning to the tent-keeper, who was standing by the cook- 
ing-fire, he enquired : " how did that horse get here .^" " "Why," 
answered the foi-mer, with a slight variation of the truth, " he was 



96 ELDORADO. 

driven in this morning by some men who found him in the road, 
about three miles from here. The men have gone on to Stockton, 
but left him, thinking he might have an owner somewhere, though 
he don't look like it." " Three miles !" ejaculated the voice ; 
" it was six miles from here, where I camped, and the horse never 
left me before ; you know you did n't, you rascal !" Then, coming 
into the tent, he repeated the whole story to us, who marvelled 
^exceedingly that the horse should have left. " He does n't look 
to be much," added the man, " but I've had hitn two years among 
the mountains, and never saw sich anotner wonderful knowin' 
animal." 

Sergeant Falls, who owned a ranche in the neighborhood, came 
along shortly after with a calallada which he was driving into 
Stockton. The day was hot, but a fine breeze blew over the hazy 
plain and rustled the groves of oak as we went past them on a 
sweeping gallop, which was scarcely broken during the whole ride 
of twenty-five miles. No exercise in the world is so exciting and 
inspiring as the traveling gait or " lope" of the Californian horse 
I can compare it to nothing but the rocking motion of a boat over 
a light sea. There is no jar or jolt in the saddle ; the rider sits 
lightly and securely, while the horse, obeying the slightest touch 
of the rein, carries him forward for hours without slackening his 
bounding speed. Up and down the steep sides of an arroyo — over 
the shoulder of a mountain, or through the flinty bed of some dry 
lake or river — it is all the same. One's blood leaps merrily along 
his veins, and the whole frame feels an elastic warmth which ex- 
quisitely fits it to receive all sensuous impressions. Ah ! if horse- 
flesh were effortless as the wind, indestructible as adamant, what 
motion of sea or air — what unwearied agility of fin or steady sweep 
of wing-r-could compare with it ? In the power of thus speedino 



THE CALIFORNIAN HORSE. 97 

onward at will, as far as the wish might extend, one would forget 
his desire to soar. 

I saw at the Pueblo San Jose a splendid pied horse belonging 
to Col. Fremont — the gift of Don Pio Pico — on which he had 
frequently ridden to San Francisco, a distance of fifty-five miles, 
within seven hours. "When pushed to their utmost capacity, these 
horses frequently perform astonishing feats. The saddles in com- 
mon use difi*er little from the Mexican ; the stirrups are set back, 
obliging the rider to stand rather than sit, and the seat corresponds 
more nearly to the shape of the body than the English saddle. 
The horses are broken by a halter of strong rope, which accustoms 
them to be governed by a mere touch of the rein. On first at- 
tempting to check the gallop of one which I rode, I thoughtlessly 
drew the rein as strongly as for a hard-mouthed American horse. 
The consequence was, he came with one bound to a dead stop and 
I flew bolt upwards out of the saddle ; but for its high wooden 
horn, I should have gone over his head. 

At Raney's Eanche, our notice was attracted to the sad spec- 
tacle of a man, lying on the river bank, wasted by disease, and 
evidently near his end. He was a member of a company from 
Massachusetts, which had passed that way three weeks before, not 
only refusing to take him further, but absolutely carrying with 
them his share of the stores they had brought from home. This, 
at least, was the story told me on the spot, but I hope it was un- 
true. The man had lain there from day to day, without medical 
aid, and dependant on such attention as the inmates of the tent 
were able to afibrd him. The Dr. left some medicines with him 
but it was evident to all of us that a few days more would termi- 
nate his sufferings. 

All the roads from Stockton to the mines were filled with atajos 

VOL. I. 6 



98 ELDORADO. 

of mules, laden witli freight. They were mostly owned by Aineri- 
canSj many of them by former trappers and mountaineers, but the 
packers and drivers were Mexicans, and the aparejos and alforjas 
of the mules were of the same fashion as those which, for three 
hundred years past, have been seen on the hills of Grenada and 
the Andalusian plains. With good mule-trains and experienced 
packers, the business yielded as much as the richest diggings 
The placers and gulches of Mokelumne as well as Murphy's Dig- 
gings and those on Carson's Creek, are within fifty-five miles of 
Stockton ; the richest diggings on the Stanislaus about sixty, 
and on the Tuolumne seventy. The price paid for carrying to 
all the nearer diggings averaged 30 cents per lb. during the sum- 
mer. A mule-load varies from one to two hundred lbs., but the 
experienced carrier could generally reckon beforehand the expenses 
and profits of his trip. The intense heat of the season and the 
dust of the plains tended also to wear out a team, and the carriers 
were often obliged to rest and recruit themselves. One of them, 
who did a good business between Stockton and the Lower Bar of 
the Mokelumne, told me that his profits were about ^3,000 monthly. 
I found Stockton more bustling and prosperous than ever. The 
limits of its canvas streets had greatly enlarged during my week 
of absence, and the crowd on the levee would not disgrace a much 
larger place at home. Launches were arriving and departing 
daily for and from San Francisco, and the number of mule-trains, 
wagons, etc., on their way to the various mines with freight and 
supplies kept up a life of activity truly amazing. Stockton was 
first laid out by Mr. Weaver, who emigrated to the country seven 
yeai's before, and obtained a gi-ant of eleven square leagues from 
the Government, on condition that he would obtain settlers for the 
whole of it within a specified time. In planning the town of Stockton, 



A FLOGGING SCENE IN STOCKTON. 99 

he displayed a great deal of shrewd business tact, the sale of lots 
having brought him upwards of $500,000. A great disadvantage 
of the location is the sloughs by which it is surrounded ; which, in 
the wet season, render the roads next to impassable. There 
seems, however, to be no other central point so well adapted for 
supplying the rich district between the Mokelumne and Tuolumne, 
and Stockton will evidently continue to grow with a sure and 
gradual growth. 

I witnessed, while in the town, a summary exhibition of justice. 
The night before my arrival, three negroes, while on a drunken 
revel, entered the tent of a Chilian, and attempted to violate a 
female who was within. Defeated in their base designs by her 
husband, who was fortunately within call, they fired their pistols at 
the tent and left. Complaint was made before the Alcalde, two 
of the negroes seized and identified, witnesses examined, a jury 
summoned, and verdict given, without delay. The principal of- 
fender was sentenced to receive fifty lashes and the other twenty 
— ^both to leave the place within forty-eight hours under pain of 
death. The sentence was immediately carried into execution , 
the negroes were stripped, tied to a tree standing in the middle 
of the principal street, and in presence of the Alcalde and Sherifl 
received their punishment. There was little of that order and 
respect shown which should accompany even the administration of 
impromptu law ; the bystanders jeered, laughed, and accompanied 
every blow with coarse and unfeeling remarks. Some of the more 
intelligent professed themselves opposed to the mode of punish- 
ment, but in the absence of prisons or efi*ective guards could sug- 
gest no alternative, except the sterner one of capital punishment. 

The history of law and society in California, from the period of 
the golden discoveries, would furnish many instructive lessons to 



100 ELDORADO. 

the philosoplier and the statesman. The first consequence of the 
unprecedented rush of emigration from all parts of the world into 
a country almost unknown, and but half reclaimed from its origi- 
nal barbarism was to render all law virtually null, and bring the 
established authorities to depend entirely on the humor of the 
population for the observance of their orders. The countries 
which were nearest the golden coast — Mexico, Peru, Chili, China 
and the Sandwich Islands — sent forth their thousands of ignorant 
adventurers, who speedily outnumbered the American population. 
Another fact, which none the less threatened serious consequen- 
ces, was the readiness with which the worthless and depraved class 
of our own country came to the Pacific Coast. From the begin- 
ning, a state of things little short of anarchy might have been 
reasonably awaited. 

Instead of this, a disposition to maintain order and secure the 
rights of all, was shown throughout the mining districts. In the ab- 
sence of all law or available protection, the people met and adopted 
rules for their mutual security — rules adapted to their situation, 
where they had neither guards nor prisons, and where the slightest 
license given to crime or trespass of any kind must inevitably have 
led to terrible disorders. Small thefts were punished by banish- 
ment from the placers, while for those of large amount or for 
more serious crimes, there was the single alternative of hanging. 
These regulations, with slight change, had been continued up to 
the time of my visit to the country. In proportion as the emigra- 
tion from our own States increased, and the digging community 
assumed a more orderly and intelligent aspect, their severity had 
been relaxed, though punishment was still strictly administered 
for all offences. There had been, as nearly as I could learn, not 
more than twelve or fifteen executions in all, about half of which 



LAW AND ORDER. 101 

were inflicted for the crime of murder. This awful responsibility 
had not been assumed lightly, but after a fair trial and a full and 
clear conviction, to which was added, I believe in every instance, 
the confession of the criminal. 

In all the large digging districts, which had been worked for 
some time, there were established regulations, which were faith- 
fully observed. Alcaldes were elected, who decided on all dis- 
putes of right or complaints of trespass, and who had power to 
summon juries for criminal trials. When a new placer or gulch 
was discovered, the first thing done was to elect officers and ex- 
tend the area of order. The result was, that in a district five 
hundred miles long, and inhabited by 100,000 people, who had 
neither government, regular laws, rules, military or civil protec- 
tion, nor even locks or bolts, and a great part of whom possessed 
wealth enough to tempt the vicious and depraved, there was as 
much security to life and property as in any part of the Union, 
and as small a proportion of crime. The capacity of a people for 
self-government was never so triumphantly illustrated. Never, 
perhaps, was there a community formed of more unpropitious ele- 
ments ; yet from all this seeming chaos grew a harmony beyond 
what the most sanguine apostle of Progress could have expected. 

The rights of the diggers were no ♦less definitely marked and 
strictly observed. Among the hundreds I saw on the Moke- 
lumne and among the gulches, I did not see a single dispute nor 
hear a word of complaint. A company of men might mark out a 
race of any length and turn the current of the river to get at the 
bed, possessing the exclusive right to that part of it, so long as 
their undertaking lasted. A man might dig a hole in the dry 
ravines, and so long as he left a shovel, pick or crowbar to show 
that he stjll intended working it, he was safe from trespass His 



102 ELDORADO. ' 

tools might remain there for months without being disturbed I 
have seen many such places, miles away from any camp or tent, 
which the digger had left in perfect confidence that he should find 
all right on his return. There were of course exceptions to these 
rules — the diggings would be a Utopia if it were not so — but the) 
were not frequent. The Alcaldes sometimes made awkward de- 
cisions, from inexperience, but they were none the less implicitly 
obeyed. I heard of one instance in which a case of trespass was 
settled to the satisfaction of both parties and the Sherifi" ordered 
to pay the costs of Court — about $40. The astonished func- 
tionary remonstrated, but the power of the Alcalde was supreme, 
and he was obliged to suffer. 

The treatment of the Sonorians by the American diggers was 
one of the exciting subjects of the summer. These people came 
into the country in armed bands, to the number of ten thousand 
in all, and took possession of the best points on the Tuolumne, 
Stanislaus and Mokelumne Eivers. At the Sonorian camp on the 
Stanislaus there were, during the summer, several thousands of 
them, and the amount of ground they dug up and turned over ia 
almost incredible. For a long time they were suffered to work 
peaceably, but the opposition finally became so strong that they 
were ordered to leave. They made no resistance, but quietly 
backed out and took refuge in other diggings. In one or two 
places, I was told, the Americans, finding there was no chance 
of having a fight, coolly invited them back again ! At the time 
of my visit, however, they were leaving the country in large num- 
bers, and there were probably not more than five thousand in all 
scattered along the various rivers. Several parties of them, in 
revenge for the treatment they experienced, committed outrages 
on their way home, stripping small parties of the emigrants by 



MORAL EFFECT OF GOLD. 103 

the Gila route of all they possessed. It is not likely that the 
country will be troubled with them in future. 

Abundance of gold does not always beget, as moralists tell us, a 
gi-asping and avaricious spirit. The principles of hospitality were 
IS faithfully observed in the rude tents of the diggers as they 
could be by the thrifty farmers of the North and West. The cos- 
mopolitan cast of society in California, resulting from the com- 
muagling of so many races and the primitive mode of life, gave a 
character of good-fellowship to all its members ; and in no part 
of the world have I ever seen help more freely given to the needy, 
or more ready cooperation in any humane proposition. Per- 
sonally, I can safely say that I never met with such unvarying 
kindness from comparative strangers. 



CHAPTER II. 

A NIGHT-ADVENTURE IN THE MOUNTAIN . 

On reaching Stockton, Lieut. Beale and Col. Lyons decided to 
return to San Francisco in a launch, which was to leave the same 
evening. This was thought best, as mule-travel, in the condition 
of the former, would have greatly aggravated his illness. The 
mules were left in my charge, and as the management of five was 
an impossibility for one man, it was arranged that I should wait 
three days, when Mr. R. A. Parker and Mr. Atherton, of San 
Francisco, were to leave. These gentlemen ofifered to make a 
single mulada of all our animals, which would relieve me from my 
embarrassment. I slept that night in Mr. Lane's store, and the 
next morning rode out to Glraham's Camp, where the Major re- 
ceived me with the same genial hospitality. For three days 
longer I shared the wildwood fare of his, camp-table and slept 
under the canopy of his oaks. Long may those matchless trees 
be spared to the soil — a shore of cool and refreshing verdure to 
all who traverse the hot plains of San Joaquin ! 

Messrs. Parker and Atherton, with three other gentlemen and 
two servants, made their appearance about sunset. My mules 
had already been caught and lariated, and joining our loose ani- 
mals, we had a mulada of eight, with eight riders to keep them in 



AN UNCEREMONIOUS SUPPER. 105 

order. The plain was dark when we started, and the trail 
stretched like a dusky streak far in advance. The mules gave us 
infinite trouble at first, darting off on all sides ; but, by dint of 
hard chasing, we got them, into regular file, keeping them in a 
furious trot before us. The volumes of dust that rose from their 
feet, completely enveloped ns ; it was only by counting the tails 
that occasionally whisked through the cloud, that we could tell 
whether they were in order. One of my spurs gave way in the 
race, but there was no stopping to pick it up, nor did we halt 
until, at the end of twelve miles, the white tent of the ferry came 
in sight. 

We crossed and rode onward to my old camping-place on the 
slough. A canvas tavern had been erected on a little knoll, since 
my visit, and after picketing our animals in the meadow, we pro- 
ceeded to rouse the landlord. The only person we could find 
was an old man, lying under a tree near at hand ; he refused to 
stir, saying there was nothing to eat in the tent, and he would not 
get up and cook at that time of night. My fellow- travelers, ac- 
customed to the free-and-easy habits of California, entered the 
tent without ceremony and began a general search for comestibles. 
The only things that turned up were a half-dozen bottles of ale 
in a dusty box and a globular jar of East-India preserves, on 
which odd materials we supped with a hearty relish. The appe- 
tite engendered by open-air life in California would have made 
palatable a much more incongruous meal.* We then lay down on 
the sloping sides of the knoll, rolled in a treble thickness of 
blankets, for the nights were beginning to grow cool. I was 
awakened once or twice by a mysterious twitching of my bed- 
clothes and a scratching noise, the cause of which was explained 

«vhen I arose in the morning. I had been sleeping over half a 

5* 



106 ELDORADO. 

dozen squirrel-holes, to the great discomfort of the imprisoned 
tenants. 

The old denizen of the place, in belter humor after we had 
paid for oui' unceremonious supper, set about baking tortillas and 
stewing beef, to which we added two cans of preserved turtle 
Boup, which we found in the tent. Our mules had scattered far 
and wide during the night, and several hours elapsed before they 
could be herded and got into traveling order. The face of the 
broad plain we had to cross glimmered in the heat, and the Coast 
Range beyond it was like the phantom of a mountain-chain. We 
journeyed on, hour after hour, in the sweltering blaze, crossed the 
divide and reached Livermore's Ranche late in the afternoon 
My saddle-mule was a fine gray animal belonging to Andrew 
Sublette, which Lieut. Beale had taken on our way to Stockton, 
leaving his own alazan at the ranche. Mr. Livermore was ab- 
sent, but one of his vaqueros was prevailed upon, by a bribe of 
five dollars, to take the mule out to the corral, six miles distant, 
and bring me the horse in its stead. I sat down in the door of 
the ranche to await his arrival, leaving the company to go forward 
with all our animals to a camping-ground, twelve miles further. 
It was quite dark when the vaquero rode up with the alazan^ 
and I lost no time in saddling him and leaving the ranche. The 
trail, no longer confined among the hills, struck out on a circulai 
plain, ten miles in diameter, which I was obliged to cross. The 
moon was not risen ; the soil showed but one dusky, unvaried 
hue ; and my only chance of keeping the trail was in the sound 
of my horse's feet. A streak of gravelly sand soon put me at 
fault, and after doubling backwards and forwards a few times, I 
found myself adrift without compass or helm. In the uncertain 
gloom, my horse blundered into stony hollows, or, lost in the mazes 



THE TRAIL LOST. 107 

of the oaks, startled the buzzards and moimtain vultur(!S from 
theh- roost. The boughs rustled, and the air was stiiTed by the 
muffled beat of then- wings : I could see them, like unearthly, 
boding shapes, as they swooped between me and the stars. At 
last, making a hazard at the direction in which the trail ran, I set 
my course by the stars and pushed steadily forward in a straight 
line. 

Two hours of this dreary travel passed away : the moon rose, 
lighting up the loneliness of the wide plain and the dim, silvery 
sweep of mountains around it. I found myself on the verge of a 
steep bank, which I took to be an arroyo we had crossed on the 
outward journey. Getting down with some difficulty, I rode for 
more than a mile over the flinty bed of a lake, long since dried up 
by the summer heats. At its opposite side I plunged into a 
ghostly wood, echoing with the dismal howl of the wolves, and 
finally reached the foot of the mountains. The deep-sunken glen, 
at whose entrance I stood, had no familiar feature ; the tall clumps 
of chapparal in its bottom, seemed fit haunts for grizzly bear ; and 
after following it for a short distance, I turned about and urged 
my horse directly up the steep sides of the mountain. 

It was now midnight, as near as I could judge by the moon, and 
I determin'fed to go no further. I had neither fire-arms, matches 
nor blankets — all my equipments having gone on with the pack- 
mule — and it was necessary to choose a place where I could be 
secure from the bears, the only animal to be feared. The very 
Bummit of the mountain seemed to be the safest spot ; there was 
a single tree upon it, but the sides, for some distance below, were 
bare, and if a *' grizzly" should come up one side, I could dash 
down the other. Clambering to the top, I tied my horse to the 
trc3, took the saddle for a pillow, and coUing into the smallest 



108 ELDORADO. 

possible compass, tried to cover myself with a square yard of sad- 
dle-blanket. It was too cold to sleep, and I lay there for hours, 
with aching bones and chattering teeth, looking down on the vast, 
mysterious depths of the landscape below me. I shall never for- 
get the shadowy level of the plain, whose belts and spots of timber 
were like clouds in the wan light — ^the black mountain-gulfs on 
either hand, which the incessant yell of a thousand wolves made 
seem like caverns of the damned — the far, faint shapes of the dis- 
tant ranges, which the moonshine covered, as with silver gossamer, 
and the spangled arch overhead, doubly lustrous in the thin au\ 
Once or twice I fell into a doze, to dream of slipping off precipices 
and into icy chasms, and was roused by the snort of my horse, as 
he stood with raised ears, stretching the lariat to its full length. 

When the morning star, which was never so welcome, brought 
the daylight in its wake, I saddled and rode down to the plain. 
Taking a course due north, I started off on a gallop and in less 
than an hour recovered the trail. I had no difficulty in finding 
the beautiful meadow where the party was to have camped, but 
there was no trace of them to be seen ; the mules, as it happened, 
were picketed behind some timber, and the men, not yet arisen, 
were buried out of sight in the rank grass. I rode up to some 
milpaSj (brush-huts,) inhabited by Indians, and for two reals ob- 
tained a boUed ear of corn and a melon, which somewhat relieved 
my chill, hungry condition. Riding ahead slowly, that my horse 
might now and then crop a mouthful of oats, I was finally over- 
taken by Mr. Atherton, who was in advance of the company. We 
again took our places behind the mules, and hurried on to the 
Mission of San Jose. 

Mr. Parker had been seized with fever and chills during the 
night, and decided to rest a day at the Pueblo San Jose. Messrs. 



SECOND VIEW OF SAN FBANCISCO. • 10*5 

A.therton and Patterson, with myself, after breakfasting and 
making a hasty visit to the rich pear-trees and grape-vines of the 
garden, took a shorter road, leading around the head of the bay 
to Whisman's Ranche. We trotted the twenty-five miles in about 
four hours, rested an hour, and then set out again, hoping to reach 
San Francisco that night. It was too much, however, for our 
mules ; after parsing the point of Santa Clara mountain they be- 
gan to scatter, and as it was quite dark, we halted in a grove near 
the Ruined Mission. We lay down on the ground, supperless and 
somewhat weary with a ride of about seventy miles. I slept a 
refreshing sleep under a fragrant bay-tree, and was up with the 
first streak of dawn to look after my mules. Once started, we 
spurred our animals into a rapid trot, which was not slackened till 
we had passed the twenty miles that intervened between us and 
the Mission Dolores. 

When I had climbed the last sand-hill, riding in towards San 
Francisco, and the town and harbor and crowded shipping again 
opened to the view, I could scarcely realize the change that had 
taken place during my absence of three weeks. The town had not 
only greatly extended its limits, but seemed actually to have 
doubled its number of dwellings since I left. High up on the 
hills, where I had seen only sand and chapparal, stood clusters of 
houses ; streets which had been merely laid out, were hemmed in 
with buildings and thronged with people ; new warehouses had 
sprung up on the water side, and new piers were creeping out to- 
ward the shipping ; the forest of masts had greatly thickened ; 
and the noise, motion and bustle of business and labor on all sides 
were incessant. Verily, the place was in itself a marvel. To 
Bay that it was daily enlarged by from twenty to thirty houses 
may not sound very remarkable after all the stories that have 



no ELDORADO. 

been told ; yet this, for a country whicli imported both lumber 
and houses, and where labor was then $10 a day, is an extraordi- 
nary growth. The rapidity with which a ready-made house is put 
up and inhabited, strikes the stranger in San Francisco as little 
short of magic. He walks over an open lot in his before-breakfast 
stroll — the next morning, a house complete, with a family inside, 
blocks up his way. He goes down to the bay and looks out on 
the shipping — two or three days afterward a row of storehouses, 
staring him in the face, intercepts the view. 

I found Lieut. Beale and Col. Lyons, who gave me an amusing 
account of their voyage on the San Joaquin. The " skipper" of 
the launch in which they embarked knew nothing of navigation, 
and Lieut. Beale, in spite of his illness, was obliged to take com- 
mand. The other passengers were a company of Mexican miners. 
After tacking for two days among the tule swamps, the launch 
ran aground ; the skipper, in pushing it off, left an oar in the 
sand and took the boat to recover it. Just then a fine breeze 
sprang up and the launch shot ahead, leaving the skipper to fol- 
low. That night, having reached a point within two miles of the 
site of an impossible town, called New-York-of-the-Pacific, the 
passengers left in a body. The next day they walked to the little 
village of Martinez, opposite Benicia, a distance of twenty-five 
miles, crossing the foot of Monte Diablo. Here they took anothei 
launch, and after tossing twelve hours on the bay, succeeded in 
reaching San Francisco. 

At the United States Hotel I again met with Colonel Fremont, 
ind learned the particulars of the magnificent discovery which had 
just been made upon his ranche on the Mariposa River. It was 
nothing less than a vein of gold in the solid rock — the first which 
had been found in California. T saw some specimens which were 



Ill 

in Col. Fremont's possession. The stone was a reddish quartz, 
filled with rich veins of gold, and far surpassing the specimens 
brought from North Carolina and Georgia. Some stones picked 
up on the top of the quartz strata, without particular selection, 
yielded two ounces of gold to every twenty-five pounds. Col. 
Fremont informed me that the vein had been traced for more than 
a mile The thickness on the surface is two feet, gradually widen- 
ing as it descends and showing larger particles of gold. The dip 
downward is only about 20°, so that the mine can be worked with 
little expense. The ranche upon which it is situated was pur- 
chased by Col. Fremont in 1846 from Alvarado, former Governor 
ot the Territory. It was then considered nearly worthless, and 
Col. F. only took it at the moment of leaving the country, be- 
cause disappointed in obtaining another property. This discovery 
made a great sensation thoughout the country, at the time, yet it 
was but the first of many such. The Sierra Nevada is pierced in 
every part with these priceless veins, which will produce gold for 
centuries after every spot of earth from base to summit shall have 
been turned over and washed out. 

Many of my fellow-passengers by the Panama were realizing 
their dreams of speedy fortune ; some had already made $20,000 
by speculating in town lots. A friend of mine who had shipped 
lumber from New York to the amount of $1000 sold it for 
$14,000. At least soventy-five houses had been imported from 
Canton, and put up by Chinese carpenters. Washing was $8 a 
dozen, and as a consequence, large quantities of soiled linen were 
sent to the antipodes to be purified. A vessel just in from Can- 
ton brought two hundred and fifty dozen, which had been sent out 
a few months before ; another from the Sandwich Islands brought 
one hundred dozen, and the practice was becoming general. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SAN FRANCISCO BY DAY AND NIGHT. 

A BETTER idea of San Francisco, in the beginning of 
September, 1849, cannot be given than by the description of a 
single day. Supposing the visitor to have been long enough in the 
place to sleep on a hard plank and in spite of the attacks of 
innumerable fleas, he will be awakened at daylight by the noises 
of building, with which the hills are all alive. The air is 
temperate, and the invariable morning fog is just beginning to 
gather. By sunrise, which gleams hazily over the Coast Mountains 
across the Bay, the whole populace is up and at work. The 
wooden buildings unlock their doors, the canvas houses and tents 
throw back their front curtains ; the lighters on the water are 
warped out from ship to ship ; carts and porters are busy along 
the beach ; and only the gaming-tables, thronged all night by the 
votaries of chance, are idle and deserted. The temperatuie is so 
fresh as to inspire an active habit of body, and even without the 
stimultis of trade and speculation there would be few sluggards at 
this season. 

As early as half-past six the bells begin to sound to breakfast, 
and for an hour thenceforth, their incessant clang and the braying 
of immense gongs drown all the hammers that are busy on a 



THE STREF.rS AFTER CREAKFAST. 113 

hundred roofs. The hotels, restaurants and refectories of all kinds 
are already as numerous as gaming-tables, and equally various in 
kind. The tables d'hote of the first class, (which charge $2 and 
upwards the meal,) are abundantly supplied. There are others, 
with more simple and solid fare, frequented by the large class who 
have their fortunes yet to make. At the United States and 
California restaurants, on the plaza, you may get an excellent 
beefsteak, scantily garnished with potatoes, and a cup of good 
coffee or chocolate, for $1. Fresh beef, bread, potatoes, and all 
provisions which will bear importation, are plenty ; but milk, fruit 
and vegetables are classed as luxuries, and fresh butter is rarely 
heard of. On Montgomery street, and the vacant space fronting 
the water, venders of coffee, cakes and sweetmeats have erected 
their stands, in order to tempt the appetite of sailors just arrived 
in port, or miners coming down from the mountains. 

By nine o'clock the town is in the full flow of business. The 
streets running down to the water, and Montgomery street which 
Tonts the Bay, are crowded with people, all in hurried motion. 
The variety of characters and costumes is remarkable. Our own 
countrymen seem to lose their local peculiarities in such a crowd, 
and it is by chance epithets rather than by manner, that the New- 
Yorker is distinguished from the Kentuckian, the Carolinian from 
the Down-Easter, the Virginian from the Texan. The German 
and Frenchman are more easily recognized. Peruvians and 
Chilians go by in their brown ponchos, and the sober Chinese, cool 
and impassive in the midst of excitement, look out of the oblique 
corners of their long eyes at the bustle, but are never tempted to 
v^enture from th^ir own line of business. The eastern side of the 
plaza, in front of the Parker House and a canvas hell called the 
Klloiido. are the o-eneral rendezvous of business and amusement 



114 ELDORADO. 

— combiniug 'change, pa;k, club-room and promenade all ia one. 
There, everybody not constantly employed in one spot, may be 
seen at some tim3 of the day. The character of the groups 
scattered along the plaza is oftentimes very interesting. In one place 
are three or four speculators bargaining for lots, buying and sell- 
ing " fifty varas square " in towns, some of which are canvas and 
some only paper ; in another, a company of miners, brown aa 
leather, and rugged in features as in dress ; in a third, perhaps, 
three or four naval )fficers speculating on the next cruise, or a 
knot of genteel gamblers, talking over the last night's operations. 

The day advances. The mist which after sunrise hung low and 
heavy for an hour or two, has risen above the hills, and there will 
be two hours of pleasant sunshine before tHe wind sets in from the 
sea. The crowd in the streets is now wholly alive. Men dart 
hither and thither, as if possessed with a never-resting spirit. 
You speak to an acquaintance — a merchant, perhaps. He utters 
rf few hurried words of greeting, while his eyes send keen glances 
on all sid3s of you ; suddenly he catches sight of somebody in the 
crowd ; he is ofi*, and in the next five minutes has bought up half 
a cargo, sold a town lot at treble the sum he gave, and taken a 
share in some new and imposing speculation. It is impossible to 
witness this excess and dissipation of business, without feeling 
something of its influence. The very air is pregnant with the 
magnetism of bold, spirited, unwearied action, and he who but 
ventures into the outer circle of the whirlpool, is spinning, ere ho 
has time for thought, in its dizzy vortex. 

But see ! the groups in the plaza suddenly scatter ; the city 
surveyor jerks his pole out of the ground and leaps on a pile of 
boards ; the venders of cakes and sweetmeats follow his example, 
and the j lace is rdeared, just as a wild bull which has been racing 



A BULL-CHASE. 115 

dowD Kcainoy street makes his appearance. Two vaqueros, 
sliouting and swinging their lariats, follow at a hot gallop ; the 
dust flies as they dash across the plaza. One of them, in mid- 
career, hurls his lariat in the air. Mark how deftly the coi' 
unwinds in its flying curve, and with what precision the noose 
falls over the bull's horns ! The horse wheels as if on a pivot, 
and shoots off in an opposite line. He knows the length of tho 
lariat to a hair, and the instant it is drawn taught, plants his feet 
firmly for the shock and throws his body forward. The bull is 
''^ brought up " with such force as to throw him off his legs. 
He lies stunned a moment, and then, rising heavily, makes 
another charge. But by this time the second vaquero has thrown 
a lariat around one of his hind legs, and thus checked on both 
sides, he is dragged off to slaughter. 

The plaza is refilled as quickly as it was emptied, and the 
course of business is resumed. About. twelve o'clock, a wind 
begins to blow from the north-west, sweeping with most violence 
through a gap between the hills, opening towards the Golden 
Gate. The bells and gongs begin to sound for dinner, and these 
two causes tend to lessen the crowd in the streets for an hour or 
two. Two o'clock is the usual dinner-time for business men, but 
Lome of the old and successful merchants have adopted the 
fashionable hour of five. Where shall we dine to-day? the 
restaurants display their signs invitingly on all sides; we have 
choice of the United States, Tortoni's, the Alhambra, and many 
other equally classic resorts, but Delmonico's, like its distinguished 
original in New York, has the highest prices and the greatest 
variety of dishes. We go down Kearney street to a two-story 
wooden house on the corner of Jackson. The lower story is a 
market ; the walls are garnished with quarters of beef and 



116 



ELDORADO. 



mutton ; a huge pile of Sandwich Islaud squashes fills one 
corner, and several cabbage-heads, valued at $2 each, show 
themselves in the window. We enter a little door at the end of 
the building, ascend a dark, narrow flight of steps and find our- 
selves in a long, low room, with ceiling and walls of white muslin 
and a floor covered with oil-cloth 

There are about twenty tables disposed in two rows, all of them 
80 well filled that we have some difficulty in finding places. Tak- 
ing up the written bill of fare, we find such items as the following : 



SOUPS. 

Mock Turtle $0 75 

St. JulJen 1 00 

FISH. 

Boiled Salmon Trout, Anchovy 
sauce 1 75 

BOILED. 

Lefe Mutton, caper sauce . . I 00 
Corned Beef, Cabbage, ... 1 00 
Ham and Tongues .... 75 



ENTREES. 

Fillet of Beef, mushroom 

sauce $1 76 

Veal Cutlets, breaded ... 1 00 

Mutton Chop 1 00 

Lobster Salad 2 00 

Sirloin of Venison . . . . . 1 50 

Bak«d Maccaroni 75 

Beef Tongue, sauce piquante 100 



So that, with but a moderate appetite, the dinnei will cost us 
$5, if we are at all epicurean in our tastes. There are cries of 
" steward !" from all parts of the room — the word " waiter" is 
not considered sufficiently respectful, seeing that the waiter may 
have been a lawyer or merchant's clerk a few months before. The 
dishes look very small as they are placed on the table, but they 
are skilfully cooked and very palatable to men that have ridden in 
from the diggings. The appetite one acquires in California is 
something remarkable. For two months after my arrival, my 
sensations were like those of a famished wolf. 

In the matter of dining, the tastes of all nations can be gratified 
here. There are French restaurants on the plaza and on Dupont 
street ; an extensive German establishment on Pacific street ; the 
Fonda Peruana ; the Italian Confectionary ; and three Chinese 



THE AFTERNOON. 117 

houses, denoted by their long three-cornered flags of yellow silk. 
The latter are much frequented by Americans, on account of their 
excellent cookery, and the fact that meals are. $1 each, without 
regard to quantity. Kong-Sung's house is near the water ; 
Whang-Tong's in Sacramento Street, and Tong-Ling^s in Jackson 
street. There the grave Celestials serve up their chow-chow and 
curry, besides many genuine English dishes ; their tea and coffee 
cannot be surpassed. 

The afternoon is less noisy and active than the forenoon. 
Merchants keep within-doors, and the gambling-rooms are crowded 
with persons who step in to escape the wind and dust. The sky 
takes a cold gray cast, and the hills over the bay are barely visible 
in the dense, dusty air. Now and then a watcher, who has been 
stationed on the hill above Fort Montgomery, comes down and 
reports an inward-bound vessel, which occasions a little excitement 
among the boatmen and the merchants who are awaiting consign- 
ments. Towards sunset, the plaza is nearly deserted ; the wind 
is merciless in its force, and a heavy overcoat is not found un- 
pleasantly warm. As it grows dark, there is a lull, though occa- 
sional gusts blow down the hill and carry the dust of the city out 
among the shipping. 

The appearance of San Francisco at night, from the water, is 
unlike anything I ever beheld. The hoUses are mostly of canvas, 
which is made transparent by the lamps within, and transforms 
them, in the darkness, to dwellings of solid light. Seated on the 
slopes of its three hills, the tents pitched among the chapparal to 
the very summits, it gleams like an amphitheatre of fire. Here 
and there shine out brilliant points, from the decoy-lamps of the 
gaming-houses ; and through the indistinct murmur of the streets 
Bomes by fits the sound of music from their hot and crowded pre* 



118 ELDORADO. 

cincts. The pictmc has in it something unreal and fantastic ; it 
impresses one like the cities of the magic lantern, which a motion 
of the hand can build or annihilate. 

The only objects left for us to visit are the gaming-tables, whose 
day has just fairly dawned. We need not wander far in search of 
one. Denison's Exchange, the Parker House and Eldorado stand 
side by side ; across the way are the Yerandah and Aguila de 
Oro ; higher up the plaza the St. Charles and Bella Union ; while 
dozens of second-rate establishments are scattered through the less 
frequented streets. The greatest crowd is about the Eldorado ; 
jre find it difficult to effect an entrance. There are about eight 
tables in the room, all of which are thronged ; copper-hued Ka- 
nakas, Mexicans rolled in their sarapes and Peruvians thrust 
through their ponchos, stand shoulder to shoulder with the brown 
and bearded American miners. The stakes are generally small, 
though when the bettor gets into " a streak of luck," as it is called, 
they are allowed to double until all is lost or the bank breaks. 
Along the end of the room is a spacious bar, supplied with all 
kinds of bad liquors, and in a sort of gallery, suspended under the 
coiling, a female violinist tasks her talent and strength of muscle 
to minister to the excitement of play. 

The Verandah, opposite, is smaller, but boasts an equal attrac- 
tion in a musician who has a set of Pandean pipes fastened at his 
hin, a drum on his back, which he beats with sticks at his elbows, 
nd cymbals in his hands. The piles of coin on the monte tables 
clink merrily to his playing, and the throng of spectators, jammed 
together in a sweltering mass, walk up to the bar between the 
tunes and drink out of sympathy with his dry and breathless throat. 
At the Aguila de Oro there is a full band of Ethiopian serenadern, 
and at the other hells, violins, guitars or wheezy accordeons, as 



THE INSIDE OF A GAMBLING-HELL. ' \\9f 

tie caso may be. The atmosphere of these places is rank with 
tobacco-smoke, and filled with a feverish, stifling heat, which 
communicates an unhealthy glow to the faces of the players. 

We shall not be deterred from entering by the heat and smoke, 
or the motley characters into whose company we shall be thrown. 
There are rare chances here for seeing human nature in one of its 
most dark and exciting phases. Note the variety of expression in 
the faces gathered around this table ! They are playing monte, 
the favorite game in California, since the chances are considered 
more equal and the opportunity of false play very slight. The 
dealer throws out his cards with a cool, nonchalant air ; indeed, 
the gradual increase of the hollow square of dollars at his left hand 
is not calculated to disturb his equanimity. The two Mexicans in 
front, muffled in their dirty sarapes, put down their half-dollars 
and dollars and see them lost, without changing a muscle. Gram- 
bling is a born habit with them, and they would lose thousands 
with the same indifference. Very different is the demeanor of the 
Americans who are playing ; their good or ill luck is betrayed at 
imco by involuntary exclamations and changes of countenance, 
unless the stake should be very large and absorbing, when their 
anxiety, though silent, may be read with no less certainty. They 
have no power to resist the fascination of the game. Now count- 
ing their winnings by thousands, now dependent on the kindness 
of a friend for a few dollars to commence, anew, they pass hour 
after hour in those hot, unwholesome dens. There is no appear- 
ance of arms, but let one of the players, impatient with his losses 
and maddened by the poisonous fluids he has drank, threaten one 
3f the profession, and there will be no scarcity of knives and re- 
volvers. 

There are oth.M- places, where 'gaming is carried on privately 



120 ELDORADO. 

and to a more ruinous extent — rooms in the rear of the Parker 
House, in the City Hotel and other places, frequented only by the 
initiated. Here the stakes are almost unlimited, the jolayers being 
men of wealth and apparent respectability. Frequently, in the 
absorbing interest of some desperate game the night goes by un 
heeded and morning breaks upon haggard faces and reckless hearts 
Here are lost, in a few turns of a card or rolls of a ball, the product 
of fortunate ventures by sea or months of racking labor on land. 
How many men, maddened by continual losses, might exclaun in 
tlieir blind vehemence of passion, on leaving these hells i 

" Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune ! All you gods 
In general synod, take away her power j 
Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel, 
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heavnn, 
As low as to the fiends 1" 



CHAPTER XIII. 

INCIDENTS OF A WALK TO MONTEREY. 

I STAYED but four or five days in San Francisco on my reiorn 
The Convention, elected to form a constitution for California, was 
then in session at Monterey, and, partly as an experiment, partly 
for economy's sake, I determined to make the journey of one 
hundred and thirty miles on foot. Pedestrianism in California, 
however, as I learned by this little experience, is something more 
of a task tlian in most countries, one being obliged to carry his 
hotel with him. The least possible bedding is a Mexican sarape, 
which makes a burdensome addition to a knapsack, and a loaf of 
bread and flask of water are inconvenient, when the mercuiy 
stands at 90°. Besides, the necessity of pushing forward many 
miles to reach " grass and water" at night, is not very pleasant 
to tte foot-sore and weary traveler. A mule, with all his satanic 
propensities, is sometimes a very convenient animal. 

Dressed in a complete suit of corduroy, with a shu't of pui'ple 
flannel and boots calculated to wear an indefinite length of time, I 
left San Francisco one afternoon, waded through the three rail s 
of deep sand to the Mission, crossed the hills and re[uhe<] 
Sanchez' Ranche a little after dark. I found- the old man, wlio 
Ls said to iisliko the Ameiicans most cordially, very friendly. He 

VOL, I. fi 



122 ELDORADO. 

set before me a supper of beef stewed in red-peppers and tbec 
f^-dve me a bed — an actual bed — and, wonder of wonders ! witbout 
fl^as. Not far from Sancbez there is a large adobe house, the 
ruins of a former Mission, in the neighborhood of which 1 noticed 
a grove of bay-trees. They were of a different species from the 
Italian bay, and the leaves gave out a most pungent odor. Sojue 
of the trees were of . extraordinary size, the trunk being three 
feet in diameter. They grow along the banks of a dry arroyo, 
and had every appearance of being indigenous. I found the jor^ 
nada of twenty-five miles to Secondini's Eanche, extremely fa- 
tiguing in the hot sun. I entei-cd the ranche panting, threw my 
knapsack on the floor and inquired of a handsome young Cali- 
fornian, dressed in blue calzoneros : " Can you give me anything 
to eat ?" " Nado — iiad-i-t-a .'" he answered, sharpening out the 
sound with an expression which meant, as plain as words could 
say it : " nothing ; not even the little end of nothing !" 

I wa^ too hungry to be satisfied with this reply, and commenced 
an inventory of all the articles on hand. I found plenty of French 
brandy, mescal and various manufactured wines, which I rejected ; 
but my search was at last rewarded by a piece of bread, half a 
Dutch cheese and a bottle of ale, nearly all of which soon disap- 
peared. Towards night, some of the vaqueros brought in a cow 
with a lariat around her horns, threw her on the ground and 
plunged a knife into her breast. A roaring fire was already kindled 
behind the house, and the breath had not been many seconds out 
of the cow's body, before pieces of meat, slashed from her flank, 
were broiling on the coals. When about half cooked, they were 
snatched out, dripping with the rich, raw juices of the animal^ 
and eaten as a great delicacy. One of the vaqueros handed me a 
large slice, which I found rather tcugh, but so remarkably sweet 



FISHER S RANCHE 123 

3nd niitiitious that I ate it, feeling myself at the time little bet- 
ter than a wolf. 

I l:-ft Secondini's at daybreak and traveled twelve miles to the 
Mission of Santa Clara, where, not being able to obtain breakfast 
I walked into the garden and made a meal of pears and the juicy 
fruit of the cactus. Thence to Pueblo San Jose, where I left th*^ 
road I had already traveled, and took the broad highway running 
southward, up the valley of San Jose. The mountains were 
barely visible on either side, through the haze, and the road, per- 
fectly level, now passed over wide reaches of grazing land, now 
crossed park-like tracts, studded with oaks and sycamores — a 
chainiing interchange of scenery. I crossad the dry bed of Coy- 
ote Creek several times, and reached Capt. Fisher's Kanche as it 
^t-as growing dusk, and a passing traveler warned me to look out 
for bears. 

Capt. Fisher, who is married to a Californian lady and has lived 
many years in the country, has one of the finest ranches in the 
valley, containing four square leagues of land, or about eighteen 
thousand acres. There are upon it eighteen streams or springs, 
two small orchards, and a vineyard and garden. He purchased 
it at auction about three years since for $3,000, which was then 
considered a high price, but since the discovery of gold he has 
been offered $80,000 for it. I was glad to find, from the account 
he gave me of his own experience as a farmer, that my first im- 
pressions of the character of California as an agricultural country, 
tvere fully justified. The barren, burnt appearance of the plains 
during the summer season misled many persons as to the value 
Df the country in this respect. From all quarters were heard 
complaints of the torrid heat and arid soil under which large 
rivers dry up and vegetation almost entirely disappears. The 



124 ELDORADO. 

possibility of raising good crops of any kind was vehemently de- 
nied, and the bold assertion made that the greater part of Cali- 
• fornia is worthless, except for grazing pm-poses. Capt. Fisher 
informed me, however, that there is no such wheat country in the 
world. Even with the imperfect plowing of the natives, which 
does little more than scratch up the surface of the ground, it pro- 
duces a hundred-fold. Not only this, but, without further culti- 
vation, a large crop springs up on the soil the second and some- 
times even the third year. Capt. Fisher knew of a ranchero who 
sowed twenty fanegas of wheat, from which he harvested one 
thousand and twenty fanegas. The second year he gathered from 
the same ground eight hundred fanegas, and the third year six 
hundred. The unvarying dryness of the climate after the rains have 
ceased preserves grain of all kinds from rot, and perhaps from the 
same circumstance, the Hessian fly is unknown. The mountain- 
sides, to a considerable extent, are capable of yielding fine crops 
of wheat, barley and rye, and the very summits and ravines on 
which the wild oats grow so abundantly will of course give a richer 
return when they have been traversed by the plow. 

Corn grows upon the plains, but thiives best in the neighbor- 
hood of streams. It requires no irrigation, and is not planted 
until after the last rain has fallen. The object of this, however, 
is to avoid the growth of weeds, which, were it planted earlier, 
would soon choke it, in the absence of a proper system of farm- 
ing. The use of the common cultivator would remove this diflSi-' 
culty, and by planting in March instead of May, an abundant 
crop would be certain. I saw several hundred acres which Capt. 
Fisher had on his ranche. The ears were large and well filled, 
and the stalks, though no rain had fallen for four months, were as 
green and fresh as in our fields at home Ground which has been 



ACJRICULTURE IN CiLlPORMA. 12j 

plowed and planted, though it shows a dry crust on the top, re- 
tains its moisture to within six inches of the surface ; while close 
beside it, and on the same level, the uncultui-ed earth is seamed 
with heat, and" vegetation buined up. The valley of San Jose is 
sixty miles in length, and contains at least five hundred square 
miles of level plain, nearly the whole of which is capable of culti- 
vation. In regard to climate and situation, it is one of the most 
favored parts of California, though the valleys of Sonoma, Napa, 
Bodega, and nearly the whole of the Sacramento country, are said 
to be equally fertile. 

Vegetables thrive luxuriantly, and many species, such as 
melons, pumpkins, squashes, beans, potatoes, etc., require no 
further care than the planting. Cabbages, onions, and all others 
which are transplanted in the spring, are obliged to be irrigated. 
G-rape vines in some situations require to be occasionally watered ; 
when planted on moist slopes, they produce without it. A 
Frenchman named Vigne made one hundred barrels of wine in one 
year, from a vineyard of about six acres, which he cultivates at 
the Mission San Jose. Capt. Fisher had a thousand vines in his 
garden, which were leaning on the earth from the weight of their 
fruit. Many of the clusters weighed four and five pounds, and in 
bloom, richness and flavor rivaled the choicest growth of Tuscany 
or the Rhine. The vine will hereafter be an important product 
of California, and even Burgundy and Tokay may be superseded 
on the tables of the luxurious by the vintage of San Jose and 
Los Angeles. 

Before reaching Fisher's Ranche, I noticed on my left a bold 
spur striking out from the mountain-range. It terminated in a 
bluflP, and both the rock and soil were of the dark-red color of 
Figyptian porphyry, denoting the presence of cinnabar, the ore of 



126 . ELDORADO. 

quicksilver The veins of this metal contained in the mouiitHin 
are thought to be equal to those of the mines of Santa Clara, 
which 3re on the opposite side of the valley, about eight miles from 
Pueblo Gan Jose. 

The following morning I resumed my walk up the valley. The 
soft, cloudless sky— the balmy atmosphere — the mountain ranges 
on either hand, stretching far before me until they vanished in 
purple haze — the sea-like sweep of the plain, with its islands and 
shores of dark-green oak, and the picturesque variety of animal 
life on all sides, combined to form a landscape which I may have 
seen equalled but never surpassed. Often, far in advance beyond 
the bolts of timber, a long blue headland would curve out from the 
mountains and seem to close up the beautiful plain ; but after the 
road had crossed its point, another and grander plain expanded 
for leagues before the eye. Nestled in a warm nook on the sunny 
side of one of these mountain capes, I found the ranche of Mr. 
Murphy, commanding a splendid prospect. Beyond the house 
and across a little valley, rose the conical peak of El Toro, an 
isolated mountain which served as a landmark from San Jose 
nearly to Monterey. 

I was met at the door by Mr. Euckel of San Francisco, who, 
with .Mr. Everett of New York, had been rusticating a few daya 
in the neighborhood. They introduced me to Mr. Murphy and 
his daughter, Ellen, both residents of the country for the last six 
years. Mr. Murphy, who is a native of Ireland, emigrated fron^ 
Missouri, with his family, in 1843. He owns nine leagues of land 
(forty thousand acres) in the valley, and his cottage is a well-known 
and welcome resting-place to all the Americans in the country. 
During the war he remained on the ranche in company with his 
daughter, notwithstanding Castro's troops wero scouring the 



A MOUNTAIN PANORAMA. 12? 

country, and all other Ikmilies had moved to the Pueblo for pro- 
tection. His thrhe sons were at the same time volunteers under 
Fremont's command. 

After dinner Mr. Murphy kindly offered to accompany me to 
the top of El Toro. Two horses were driven in from the cabal- 
lada and saddled, and on these we started, at the usual sweeping 
speed. Reaching the foot of the mountain, the lithe and spirited 
animals climbed its abrupt side like goats, following the windings 
of cattle-paths up the rocky ridges and through patches of stunted 
oak and chapparal, till finally, bathed in sweat and pantino- with 
the toil, they stood on the smnmit. We looked on a vast and 
wonderful landscap3. The mountain rose like an island in the sea 
of air, so far removed from all it overlooked, that everything was 
wrapped in a subtle violet haze, through which the features of the 
scene seemed grander and more distant than the reality. West 
of us, range behind range, ran the Coast Mountains, parted by 
deep, wild valleys, in which we could trace the course of streams, 
shaded by the pine and the giant redwood. On the other side, the 
valley of San Jos9, ten miles in width, lay directly at our feet, 
extending to the North and South, beyond point and headland, 
till either extremity . was lost in the distance. The unvarying 
yellow hue of mountain and plain, except where they were traversed 
by broad belts of dark green timber, gave a remarkable effect to 
the view. It was not the color of barrenness and desolation and 
had no character of sadness or even monotony. Rather, glim- 
mering through the mist, the mountains seemed to have arrayed 
themselves in cloth of gold, as if giving testimony of the royal 
metal with which their veins abound. 

After enjoying this scene for some time, we commenced the 
descent. The peak slanted doArnward at an angle of 45°, which 



128 ELDORADO, 

> 

rendered it toilsome work for our horses. I was about half-wav 
down the summit-cone, when my saddle, slipping over the hor&e'g 
shoulders, suddenly dropped to his ears. . I was shot forward and 
alighted on my feet two or three yards below, fortunately retaining 
the end of the lariat in my hand. For a few minutes we performed 
a very spirited pas de deux on the side of the mountain, but Mr 
Murphy coming to my assistance, the horse was finally quieted and 
re-saddled. The afternoon was by this time far advanced, and I 
accepted Mr. Murphy's invitation to remain for the night. His 
pleasant family cucle was increased in the evening by the arrival 
of Rev. Mr. Dowiat, a Catholic Missionary from Oregon, who 
gave us an account of the Indian massacre the previous winter. 
He was on the spot the day of its occurrence and assisted in in- 
terring the bodies of Dr. Whitman and his fellow-victims. 

I traveled slowly the next day, for the hot sand and unaccus- 
tomed exercise were beginning to make some impression on my 
feet. Early in the afternoon I reached some milpas standing in 
the middle of a cornfield. A handsome young ranchero came 
dashing up on a full gallop, stopping his horse with a single bound 
as he neared me. I asked him the name of the ranche, and 
whether he could give me a dinner. " It is Castro's Ranche," he 
replied ; " and I am a Castro. If you want water-melons, or dinner 
either, don't go to the other milpas, for they have nothing: venga !" 
and oflf he started, dashing through the corn and over the melon 
patches, as if they were worthless sand. I entered the milpa, 
which resembled an enormous wicker crate. In default of chairs 
I sat upon the ground, and very soon a dish of tortillas, one of 
boiled corn and another of jerked beef, were set before me. There 
was no need of knives and forks ; I watched the heir of the Castros, 
placed a tortilla on one knee and plied my fingers with an assiduity 



BELATED ON THE ROAD. 12S 

equal to his own, so that between us there was little left of the 
repast. He then picked out two melons from a large pile, rolled 
fhem to me, and started away again, doubtless to chase dovra more 
customers. 

The road crossed the dry bed of a river, passed some meadows 
of fresh green grass and entered the hills on the western side of the 
valley. After passing the divide, I met an old Indian, traveling 
on foot, of whom I asked the distance to San Ji:an. His reply in 
broken Spanish was given with a comical brevity : " San Juan- 
two leagues — ^you sleep — I sleep rancho — you walk — I walk , 
anda^ vamos .'" and pointing to the sun to signify that it was 
growing late, he trudged off with double speed. By sunset I 
emerged from the mountains, waded the Rio Pajaro, and entered 
on the valley of San Juan, which stretched for leagues before me, 
as broad and beautiful as that I had left. The road, leading di- 
rectly across it, seemed endless ; I strained my eyes in vain look- 
ing for the Mission. At last a dark spot, appeared some distapce 
ihead of me. " Pray heaven," thought I, " that you be either a 
house, and stand still, or a man, and come forward." It was an 
Indian vaquero, who pointed out a dark line, which I could barel;^ 
discern through the dusk. Soon afterwards the sound of a bell^ 
chiming vespers, broke on the silence, but I was still more weary 
before I reached the walls where it swung. 

At the inn adjoining the Mission I found Rev. Mr. Hunt, Col 
Stewart, Capt. Simmons and Mr. Harrison, of San Francisco 
We had beds, but did not sleep much ; few travelers, in fact, sleep 
at any of the Missions, on account of the dense population. Id 
the morning I made a sketch of the ruined building, filled my 
pockets with pears in the orchard, and started up a caiiada to cross 
Uiu mountains to the plain of Salinas River. It was a mule-path. 



130 ELDORADO, 

impracticable for wagons, and leading directly up the face of th^ 
dividing ridge. Clumps of the madrono — a native evergeen, with 
large, glossy leaves, and trunk and branches of bright | urple — 
filled the ravines, and dense thickets of a shrub with a snow-white 
berry lined the way. From the summit there was a fine moun-' 
tain-view, sloping ofi" on either hand into the plains of San Juan 
and Salinas. 

Along this road, since leaving San Jose, I met constantly with 
companies of emigrants from the Gila, on their way to the dig- 
gings. Many were on foot, having had their animals taken from 
them by the Yuma Indians at the crossing of the Colorado. They 
were wild, sun-burned, dilapidated men, but with strong and hardy 
frames, that were little affected by the toils of the journey. Some 
were mounted on mules which had carried them from Texas and 
Arkansas ; and two of the Knickerbocker Company, having joined 
their teams to a wagon, had begun business by filling it with vege- 
tables at the Mission, to sell again in the gold district. In a little 
glen I found a party of them camped for a day or two to wash 
their clothes in a pool which had drained from the meadows above. 
The companies made great inroads on my progress by questioning 
me about the gold region. None of them seemed to have any very 
definite plan in their heads. It was curious to note their eagerness 
to hear " golden reports" of the country, every one of them be- 
traying, by his questioning, the amount of the fortune he secretly 
expected to make. " Where would you advise me to go .^" was 
the first question. I evaded the responsibility of a direct answer, 
and gave them the general report of the yield on all the rivers 
" How much can I dig in a d^y ?" This question was so absurd, 
as I could know nothing of the physical strength, endurance or 
pjeological knowledge of the emigrant, that I invariably refused to 



THE GILA EMIGRANTS. 131 

make a random answer, telling them it depended entirely on them 
Belves. But there was no escaping in this manner. " Well, how 
much do you think I can dig in a day ?" was sure to follow, and I 
was obliged to satisfy them by replying : " Perhaps a dollar's 
worth, perhaps five pounds, perhaps nothing !" 

They spoke of meeting great numbers of Sonorians on their way 
home — some of whom had attempted to steal their mules and 
provisions. Others, again, who had reached the country quitf 
destitute, were kindly treated by them. The Yuma and Maricopas 
Indians were the greatest pests on the route. They had met with 
no difficulty in passing through the Apache country, and, with the 
exception of some little thieving, the Pimos tribes had proved 
friendly. The two former tribes, however, had united their forces, 
which amounted to two thousand warriors, and taken a hostile po- 
sition amon^ the hills near the Colorado crossing. There had 
been several skirmishes between them and small bodies of emi- 
grants, in which men were killed on both sides. A New York 
Company lost five of its members in this manner. Nearly all the 
persons I met had been seven months on the way. They reported 
that there were about ten thousand persons on the Grila, not more 
than half of whom had yet arrived in California. Very few of 
the original companies held together, most of them being too largo 
for convenience. 

Descending a long Canada in the mountains, I came out at the 
great Salinas Plain. At an Indian ranche on the last slope, 
several cart-loads of melons were heaped beside the door, and I 
ate two or three in company with a ti-aveler who rode up, and 
who proved to be a spy employed by Gen. Scott in the Mexican 
campaign. He was a small man, with a peculiar, keen gray eye, 
and a physiognomy thoroughly adapted for concealing all that was 



132 ELDORADO. 

passing in his mind. His hair was long and brown, and his 
beard unshorn ; he was, in fact, a genuine though somewhat 
diminutive type of Harvey Birch, differing from him likewise in a 
courteous freedom of manner which he had learned by long fa- 
miliarity with Spanish habits. While we sat, slicing the melons 
and draining their sugary juice, he told me a story of his capture 
by the Mexicans, after the battles in the Valley. He was carried 
to Queretaro, tried and sentenced to be shot, but succeeded in 
bribing the sergeant of the guard, through whose means he suc- 
ceeded in escaping the night before the day of execution. The 
sergeant's wife, who brought his meals to the prison in a basket^ 
left with him the basket, a rebosa and petticoat, in which he arrayed 
himself, after having shaved off his long beard, and passed out un- 
noticed by. the guard. A good horse was in waiting, and he never 
slacked rein until he reached San Juan del Rio, eleven leagues 
from Queretaro. 

To strike out on the plain was like .setting sail on an unknown 
sea. My companion soon sank below the horizon, while I, vrhose 
timbers were somewhat strained, labored after him. I had some 
misgivings about the road, but followed it some four or five miles, 
when, on trying the course with a compass, I determined to leave 
it and take the open plain. I made for a faint speck far to the 
right, which, after an hour's hard walking showed itself to be a 
deserted ranche, beside an ojo de agua, or marshy spring. For- 
tunately, I struck on another road, and perseveringly followed it 
till dusk, when I reached the ranche of Thomas Blanco, on the 
bank of the Salinas Biver. Harvey Birch was standing in the 
door, having arrived an hour before me. Tortillas and frijoles 
were smoking on the table — a welcome sight to a hungry man ! 
Mr Blanco, who treated us with g nuine kindness, then gave us 



MONTEREY AT LAST. ]33 

gntjd beds, and I went to sleep with the boom of the surf on the 
shore of the distant bay ringing in my ears. 

Mr. Blanco, who is married to a Californian woman, has been* 
living here several years. His accounts of the soil and climate 
fully agreed with what I had heard from other residents. There 
is a fine garden on the ranche, but during his absence at the 
placers in the summer, all the vegetables were carried away by a 
band of Sonorians, who loaded his pack-mules with them and 
drove them ofi". They would even have forcibly taken his wife 
and her sister with them, had not some of her relatives fortu- 
nately arrived in time to prevent it. 

I was so iame and sore the next morning, that I was fain to be 
helped over the remaining fifteen miles to Monterey, by the kind 
offer of Mr. Shew of Baltimore, who gave me a seat in his wagon 
The road passed over sand-hills, covered only with chapparal, and 
good for nothing except as a shooting-ground for partridges and 
hares. The view of the town as you approach, opening through a 
gap between two low, piny hills, is very fine. Though so far in- 
ferior to San Francisco in size, the houses were all substantially 
built, and did not look as if they would fly off in a gale of wind. 
They were scattered somewhat loosely over a gentle slope, behind 
which ran a waving outline of pine-covered mountains. On the 
right hand appeared the blue waters of the bay, with six or seven 
vessels anchored near the shore. The American flag floated gaily 
in the sunshine above the fort on the bluff and the Government 
offices in the town, and prominent among the buildings on the 
high ground stood the Town Hall — a truly neat and spacious edi- 
fice of yellow stone, in which the Constitutional Convention was 
then sitting. 

In spite of the additional lif* which this body gave to the plaoe^ 



134 ELDORADO. 

my fii'st impression was that of a deserted town. Few people 
were stirring in the streets ; business seemed dull and stagnant j 
'and after hunting half an hour for a hotel, I learned that there 
was none. In this dilemma I luckily met my former feUow- 
traveler, Major Smith, who asked me to spread my blanket in his 
room, in the cuartel^ or Government barracks. I willingly com- 
plied, glad to find a place of rest after a foot-journey which I de- 
clared should be my last in California, 



CHAPTER XIV. 



LIFE IN MONTEREY. 



Majcr Smith, who was Paymaster for the stations of Monterey 
and San Diego, had arrived only a few days previous, from the 
latter place. He was installed in a spacious room in the upper 
stoiy of the cuartel^ which by an impromptu partition of muslin, 
was divided into an office and bedroom. Two or three empty 
freight-boxes, furnished as a great favor by the Quarter Master, 
served as desli, table and wash-stand. There were just three 
chairs for the Major, his brother and myself, so that when we had 
a visit, one of us took his seat on a box. The only bedding I 
brought from San Francisco was a sarape, which was insufficient, 
but with some persuasion we obtained a soldier's pallet and an 
armful of straw, out of which we made a comfortable bed. We 
were readily initiated into the household mysteries of sweeping, 
dusting, etc., and after a few days' practice felt competent to take 
charge of a much larger establishniont. 

I took my meals at the Fonda de la Union, on the opposite 
side of the street. It was an old, smoky place not uncomfortably 
clean, with a billiard-room and two small rooms adjoining, where 
the owner, a sallow Mexican, with his Indian cook and miichacho. 
entertained his customers. The place was frequented by a nuni- 



136 ELDORADO. 

ber of the members and clerks of the Convention, by all rambling 
Americans or Californians who happened to be in Monterey, and 
occasionally a seaman or two from the ships in the harbor. The 
charges were usually Jl per meal ; for which we were furnished 
with an olla of boUed beef, cucumbers and corn, an asado of beef 
and red-pepper, a guisado of 'beef and potatoes, and two or three 
cups of execrable coffee. At the time of my arrival this was the 
only restaurant in the place, and reaped such a harvest of jpesoi^ 
that others we^e not long in starting up. 

'^ There was une subject, which at the outset occasioned us many 
sleepless nights. In vain did we attempt to forego the contempla- 
tion of it ; as often as we lay down on our pallets, the thought 
would come uncalled, and very soon we were writhing under its 
attacks as restlessly as Richard on his ghost-haunted couch. It 
was no imaginary disturbance ; it assailed us on all sides, and 
without cessation. It was an annoyance by no means peculiar to 
California ; it haunts the temples of the Incas and the halls of the 
Montezumas ; I have felt it come upon me in the Pantheon of 
Rome, and many a traveler has bewailed its visitation whUe sleep- 
ing in the shadow of the Pyi-amid. Nothing is more positively 
real to the feelings, nothing more elusive and intangible to the 
search. You look upon the point of its attack, and you see it not , 
you put your finger on it, and it is not there ! 

We tried all the means in our power to procure a good-night's 
rest. We swept out the room, shook out the blankets and tucked 
ourselves in so skillfully that we thought no flea could effect an 
entrance — but in vain. At last, after four nights of waking tor- 
ment, I determined to give up the attempt ; I had become so ner- 
vous by repeated failures that the thought of it alone would have 
prevented slo^p. At bed-time, therefore, T took my blank. Hs, 



THE FLEAS OUTWITTED. 137 

and went up into the pine woods behind the town I chose a 
warm corner between some bushes and a fallen log ; the air was 
misty and chill and the moon clouded over, but I lay sheltered 
and comfortable on my pillow of dry sticks. Occasionally a par- 
tridge would stir in the bushes by my head or a squirrel rustle 
among tlie dead leaves, while far back in the gloomy shadows of 
the forest the coyotes kept up an endless howl. I slept but iri- 
diiferently, for two or three fleas had escaped the blanket-shak' 
ing, and did biting enough for fifty. 

After many trials, I finally nonplussed them in spite of all their 
cunning. There is a thick green shrub in the forest, whose power- 
ful balsamic odor is too much for them. After sweeping the 

* 

floor and sprinkling it with water, I put down my bed, previously 
well shaken, and surrounded it with a chevaux-de-frise of this 
shrub, wide enough to prevent their overleaping it. Thus moated 
and palisaded from the foe, I took my rest unbroken, to his utter 
discomfiture. 

Every day that I spent in Monterey, I found additional cause 
to recede from my first impression of the dullness of the place. 
Quiet it certainly is, to one coming from San Francisco ; but it 
is only dull in the sense that Nice and Pisa are dull cities. The 
bustle of trade is wanting, but to one not bent on gold-hunting, a 
delicious climate, beautiful scenery, and pleasant society are a 
full compensation. Those who stay there for any length of time, 
love the place before they leave it — which would scarcely be said 
of San Francisco. 

The situation of Monterey is admirable. The houses are built 
on a broad, gentle slope of land, about two miles from Point 
Pinos, the southern extremity of the bay. They are scatterod 
over an extent of three quarters of a mile, leaving am fie room 



J 38 ELDORADO. 

fur the growth of the town for many j^ears to come. The outline 
of the hills in the rear is somewhat similar to those of StatcD 
Island, but they increase in height as they run to the south-east, 
till at the distance of four miles they are merged in the high 
mountains of the Coast Range. The northern shore of the bay is 
twenty miles distant, curving so far to the west, that tlie Pacific 
is not visible from any part of the town. Eastward, a high, rooky 
ridge, called the Toro Mountains, makes a prominent object in 
the view, and when the air is clear the Sierra de Gavilan, beyond 
the Salinas plains, is distinctly visible. 

During my visit the climate was mild and balmy beyond that 
of the same season in Italy. The temperature was that of mid- 
May at home, the sky for the greater part of the time without a 
cloud, and the winds as pleasant as if tempered exactly to the 
warmth of the blood. A thermometer hanging in my room only 
varied between 52° and 54°, which was about 10° lower than the 
air without. The siroccos of San Fiancisco are unknown in 
Monterey ; the mornings are frequently foggy, but it always 
clears about ten o'clock, and remains so till near sunset. " The 
sky at noonday is a pure, soft blue. 

The hai-bor of Monterey is equal to any in California. The 
bight in which vessels anchor is entirely protected from the north- 
westers by Sea-GuU Point, and from the south-eastern winds by 
mountains in the rear. In the absence of light-houses, the dense 
fog* renders navigation dangerous on this coast, and in spite of an 
entrance twenty-five miles in breath, vessels frequently run below 
Point Pinos, and are obliged to anchor on unsafe ground in Car- 
mel Bay. A road leads from the town over the hills to the ex- 
Mi^'sion of Carmel, situated at the head of the bay, about four 
miles distant. Just beyond it is Point Lobos, a promontory od 



THE GROWTH OF MONTEREY. 139 

the coast, faiixou.^ for tlie nuinbjr of seals and sea-lions ■whicL 
congregate there at low tide. A light-house on Point Pinos and 
another on Point Lobos would be a sufficient protection to naviga- 
tion for the present, and I understand that the agents of the Gov- 
ernment have recommended their erection. 

The trade of Monterey is rapidly on the increase. During my 
stay of five weeks, several houses were built, half a dozen stores 
opened and four hotels established, one of which was kept by a 
Chinaman. There were at least ten arrivals and departures of 
vessels, exclusive of the steamers, within that time, and I was 
credibly informed that the Collector of the Port had, during the 
previous five months, received about $150,000 in duties. Pro- 
visions of all kinds are cheaper than at San Francisco, but 
merchandize brings higher prices. At the Washington House, 
kept by a former private in Col. Stevenson's regiment, I obtained 
excellent board at $12 per week. The building, which belongs 
to an Italian named Alberto Tusconi, rented for $1,200 monthly. 
Rents of all kinds were high, $200 a month having been paid for 
rooms during the session of the Convention. Here, as in San 
Francisco, there are many striking instances of sudden prosperity. 
Mr. Tusconi, whom I have just mentioned, came out five years 
before, as a worker in tin. He was without money, but obtained 
the loan of some sheets of tin, which he manufactured into cups 
and sold. From this beginning he had amassed a fortune of 
$50,000, and was rapidly adding to his gains. 

There was a good deal of speculation in lots, and many of the 
sales, though far short of the extravagant standard of San Fran- 
cisco, were still sufficiently high. A lot seventy-five feet by 
twenty-five, with a small frame store upon it, was sold for $5,000. 
A one-story house, with a lot about fifty by seventy-five feet, in 



140 ELDORADO. 

the outskii'ts of the town, was held at $6,000. This was about 
the average rate of property, and told well for a town which a 
year previous was deserted, and which, only six months before, 
contained no accommodations of any kind for the traveler. 

There is another circumstance which will greatly increase the 
commercial importance of IMonterey. The discoveries of gold 
mines and placers on the Mariposa, and the knowledge that gold 
exists in large quantities on the Lake Fork, King's River and the 
Pitiuna — streams which empty into the Tulare Lakes on their 
eastern side — will hereafter attract a large portion of the mining 
population into that region. Hitherto, the hostility of the Indiana 
in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada, and the richness of 
more convenient localities, have hindered the gold diggers from 
going beyond the Mariposa. The distance of these rivers from 
San Francisco, and the great expense of transporting supplies to 
the new mining district, will naturally du'ect a portion of the im- 
porting trade to some more convenient seaport. Monterey, with 
the best anchorage on the coast, is one hundred and twenty-five 
miles nearer the Tulare Lakes. By bridging a few arroyos, an 
excellent wagon road can be made through a pass in the Coast 
Range, into the valley of San Joaquin, opening a direct communi- 
cation with the southern placers. 

The removal of the Seat of Government to the Pueblo Sau 
Jose, will not greatly affect the consequence of the place. The 
advantages it has lost, are, at most, a slight increase of popula- 
tion, and the custom of the Legislature during its session. This 
will be made up in a different way ; a large proportion of the 
mining population, now in the mountains, will come down to the 
coast to winter and recruit themselves after the hardships of the 
Fall digging. Of these, Monterey will attract the greater portion 



DOMESTIC LITE AND SOCIETY. 141 

as well from the salubrity of its climate as the comparative cheap- 
ness of living. The same advantages will cause it to be preferred, 
hereafter, as the residence of those who have retired from then 
golden labors. The pine-crowned slopes back of the town con- 
tain many sites of unsurpassed beauty for private residences. 

With the exception of Los Angeles, Monterey contains the 
most pleasant society to be found in California. There is a circle 
of families, American and native, residing there, whose genial and 
refined social character makes one forget his previous ideas of 
California life. In spite of the lack of cultivation, except such 
instruction as the priests were competent to give, the native popu- 
lation poss:ss3S a natural refinement of manner which would grace 
the most polished society. They acknowledge their want of edu- 
cation ; they tell you they grow as the trees, with the form and 
character that Nature gives them ; but even uncultured Nature 
in California wears all the ripeness and maturity of older lands. I 
have passed many agreeable hours in the houses of the native 
families. The most favorite resort of Americans is that of Dona 
Augusta Ximeno, the sister of Don Pablo de la Gruerra. This 
lady, whose active charity in aiding the sick and distressed has 
won her the enduring gratitude of many and the esteem of all, has 
made her house the home of every American officer who visits 
Monterey. With a rare liberality, she has given up a great part 
of it to their use, when it was impossible for them to procure quar- 
ters, and they have always been welcome guests at her table. She 
is a woman whose nobility of character, native vigor and activity of 
intellect, and above all, whose instinctive refinement and winning 
grace of manner, would have given her a complete supremacy in 
society, had her lot been cast in Europe or the United St^ates. 
During the session of the Convention, her house was the favoritp 



142 E .DORADO. 

resort of all clie leading members, both American and Califor- 
nian. She was thoroughly versed in Spanish literature, as well as 
the works of Scott and Cooper, through translations, and I have 
frequently been surprised at the justness and elegance of her i-e- 
tnarks on various authors. She possessed, moreover, all those 
bold and daring qualities which are so fascinating in a woman, 
when softened and made graceful by true feminine delicacy. She 
was a splendid horsewoman, and had even considerable skill in 
throwing the lariat. 

The houses of Senor Soveranez and Senor Abrego were also 
much visited by Americans The former gentleman served as a 
Captain in Mexico during the war, but since then has subsided into 
a good American citizen. Senor Abrego, who is of Mexican origin, 
was the most industrious Californian I saw in the country. Within 
a few years he had amassed a large fortune, which was in no danger 
of decreasing. I attended an evening party at his house, which 
was as lively and agreeable as any occasion of the kind well could 
be. There was a tolei-able piano in his little parlor, on which a 
lady from Sydney, Australia, played " Non piu mesta" with a good 
deal of taste. Two American gentlemen gave us a few choice ilute 
duetts, and the entertainment closed by a quadrille and polka, in 
which a little son of Senor Abrego figured, to the general admira- 
tion. 

The old and tranquil look of Monterey, before the discovery of 
the placers, must have seemed remarkable to visitors from th 
Atlantic side of the Continent. The serene beauty of the climate 
and soft, vaporous atmosphere, haje nothing in common with one's 
ideas of a new, scarce-colonized coast ; the animals, even, are those 
of the old, civilized countries of Europe. Flocks of ravens croak 
from the tiled roofs, and cluster on the long adobe walls ; magpies 



QUIET OF THE TOWN POPULATION . 143 

chatter in tlic clumps of gnarled oak on the hills, and as you pass 
through the forest, hares start up from -theii* coverts under the 
bearded pines. The quantity of blackbirds about the place is las 
tonishing ; in the mornings they wheel in squadrons about every 
house-top, and fill the air with their twitter. 

But for the interest occasioned by the Convention, and the social 
impulse given to Monterey by the presence of its members, the 
town would hardly have -furnished an incident marked enough to 
be remembered. Occasionally there was an arrival at the anchor- 
age — generally from San Francisco, San Diego or Australia — 
which furnished talk for a day or two. Then some resident would 
give a fandango, which the whole town attended, or the Alcalde 
would decree a general horn-hurning. This was nothing less than 
the collecting of all the horns and heads of slaughtered animals, 
scattered about the streets, into large piles, which burned through 
half the night, filling the air with a most unpleasant odor. When 
the atmosphere happened to be a little misty, the red light of these 
fires was thrown far up along the hills. 

I learned some very interesting facts during my stay, relative to 
the products of California. Wisconsin has always boasted of rais- 
ing the largest crops of talking humanity, but she will have to 
yield the palm to the new Pacific State, where the increase of 
population is entirely without precedent. A native was pointed 
out to me one day as the ftither of thirty-six children, twenty of 
whom were the product of his first marriage, and sixteen of his 
last Mr. Hartnell, the Government translator, has a family of 
twenty-one children. Seiior Abrego, who had been married twelve 
years, already counted as many heirs. Several other couples in 
the place had from twelve to eighteen ; and the former number, I 
was told, is the usual size of a family in California. Whether or 



144 ELDORADO 

not this remarkable fecundity is attributable to the climate, I am 
unable to tell. 

The Californians, as a race, are vastly superior to the Mexicans 
They have larger frames, stronger muscle, and a fresh, ruddy com- 
plexion, entirely different from the sallow skins of the tierra ca- 
liente or the swarthy features of those Bedouins of the West, the 
Sonorians. The families of pure Castilian blood resemble in fea- 
tures and build, the descendants of the Valencians in Chili and 
Mexico, whose original physical superiority over the natives of the 
other provinces of Spain, has not been obliterated by two hundred 
years of transplanting. Senor Soveranez informed me that the 
Californian soldiers, on account of this physical distinction, were 
nicknamed " Americanos" by the Mexicans. They have no na- 
tional feeling in common with the latter, and will never forgive 
the cowardly deportment of the Sonorians toward them, during the 
recent war. Their superior valor, as soldiers, was amply expe 
vienced by our own troops, at the battle of San Pasquale. 

I do not believe, however, that the majority of the native popu- 
lation rejoices at the national change which has come over the 
country. On the contrary, there is much jealousy and bitter feel- 
ing among the uneducated classes. The vast tides of emigration 
from the A tlantic States thrice outnumbered them in a single year, 
and consequently placed them forever in a hopeless minority. 
They witnessed the immediate extinction of their own political 
importance, and the introduction of a new language, new customs, 
and new laws It is not strange that many of them should be op- 
posed to us at heart, even while growing wealthy and prosperous 
under the marvellous change which has been wrought by the en- 
terprise of our citizens. Nevertheless, we have many warm friends, 
ind the United States many faithful subjects, among them. The 



NATIONAL FEELING IN CALIFORNIA. 140 

intelligent and influential faction which aided us dui'ing the war, 
is s^ill faithful, and many who were previously discontented, ai-e 
now loudest in their rejoicing. Our authorities have acted toward 
them with constant and impartial kindness. By pursuing a similar 
course, the future government of the State will soon obliterate the 
diifereuces of race and condition, and all will then bo equally Cal- 
ifoiiiian and American citizens. 



VOL. I. 7 



CHAPTER- XV. 

THE STATE ORGANIZATION OF CALIFORNIA. 

In some respects, the political history of California for the year 
1849j is without a parallel in the annals of any nation. The 
events are too recent for us to see them in the clear, defined out- 
lines they will exhibit to posterity ; we can only describe them as 
they occurred, throwing the strongest light on those points which 
now appear most prominent. 

The discovery of the Grold Region of California occurred in little 
more than a month after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, by 
which the country was ceded to the United States. Congress 
having adjourned without making provision for any kind of civil 
organization, the Military Grovernment established during the war 
continued in force, in conjunction with the local laws in force under 
the Mexican rule — a most incongruous state of things, which gave 
rise to innumerable embarrassments. Meanwhile, the results of 
the gold discovery produced a complete revolution in society, up 
turning all branches of trade, industry or office, and for a time 
completely annulling the Government. Mexico and the South 
American republics sent their thousands of adventurers into the 
country like a flood, far outnumbering the native population. 
During the winter of 1848-9, the state of afikirs was most critical; 



STEPS TOWARD ORGANIZATION. 14*3 

the American and foreign miners were embittered against each 
other ; the authorities were without power to enforce their orders, 
and there seemed no check to restrain the free exercise of all law- 
less passions. There wa^ a check, however — the steady integrity 
and inborn capacity for creating and upholding Law, of a portion 
of the old American settlers and emigrants newly arrived. A 
single spark of Order will in time irradiate and warm into shape a 
world of disorderly influences. 

In the neglect of Congress to provide for the establishment of 
a Territorial Government, it was at first suggested that the People 
should provisionally organize such a Government among themselves. 
Various proposals were made, but before any decisive action was 
had on the subject, another and more appropriate form was given 
to the movement, chiefly through the labor and influence of a few 
individuals, who were countenanced by the existing authorities. 
This was, to call a Convention for the purpose of drafting a State 
Constitution, that California might at once be admitted into the 
Union, without passing through the usual Territorial stage — leap- 
ing with one bound, as it were, from a state of semi-civilization to 
be the Thirty-First Sovereign Republic of the American Confede- 
racy. The vast influx of emigration had already increased the 
population beyond the requu-ed number, and the unparalleled speed 
with which Labor and Commerce were advancing warranted such 
a com"se, no less than the important natural resources of the 
country itself. The result of this movement was a proclamation 
from Gov. Riley, recommending that' an election of Delegates to 
form such a Convention be held on the first of August, 1S49. 

Gen. Riley, the Civil Governor appointed by the United States, 
Gen. Smith, and Mr. T. Butler King, during a tour through the 
paining districts in the early part of summer, took every occasion 



148 



ELDORADO. 



to interest the people in the subject, and stimulate them to hoM 
preparatory meetings. The possibility of calling together and 
keeping together a body of men, many of whom must necessarily 
be deeply involved in business and speculation, was at first strongly 
doubted. In fact, in some of the districts named in the procla- 
mation, scarcely any move was made till a few days before the day 
of election. It was only necessary, however,- to kindle the flame ; 
the intelligence and liberal public spirit existing throughout the 
country, kept it alive, and the election passed over with complete 
success. In one or two instances it was not held on the day ap- 
pointed, but the Convention nevertheless admitted the delegates 
elected in such cases. 

Party politics had but a small part to play in the choice of can- 
didates. In the San Francisco and Sacramento districts there 
might have been some influences of this kind afloat, and other dis- 
tricts undoubtedly sent members to advocate some -particular 
local interest. But, taken as a body, the delegates did hofior to 
California, and would not suffer by comparison with any first State 
Convention ever held in our Republic. I may add, also, that a 
perfect harmony of feeling existed between the citizens of both 
races. The proportion of native Californian members to the 
American was about equal to that of the population. Some of the 
former received nearly the entire American vote — Gen. Vallejo 
at Sonoma, Antonio Pico at San Joso, and Miguel de Pedrorena 
at San Diego, for instance. 

The elections were all over, at the time of my arrival in Cali- 
fornia, and the 1st of September had been appointed as the day on 
which the Convention should meet. It was my intention to have 
been present at that time, but I did not succeed in reaching Monte- 
rey until the 19th of the month. Tlie Convention was not regularly/ 



THE CONVENTION MEETS. ' 149 

organized until the 4th, when Dr. Robert Semple, of the Sonoma 
District, was chosen President and conducted to his seat by 
Capt. Sutter and Gen. Yallejo. Capt. "William G. Marcy, of the 
New-York Volunteer Regiment, was elected Secretary, after 
which the various post of Clerks, Assistant Secretaries, Transla- 
tors, Doorkeeper, Sergeant-at-Arms, etc., were filled. The day 
after their complete organization, the officers and members of the 
Convention were sworn to support the Constitution of the United 
States. The members from the Southern Districts were instruct- 
ed to vote in favor of a Territorial form of Government, but ex- 
pressed their willingness to abide the decision of the Convention. 
An invitation was extended to the Clergy of Monterey to open 
the meeting with prayer, and that office was thenceforth performed 
on alternate days by Padre Ramirez and Rev. S. H. Willey. 

The building in which the Convention met was probably the 
only one in California suited to the purpose. It is a handsome, 
two-story edifice of yellow sandstone, situated on a gentle slope, 
above the town. It is named " Colton Hall," on account of its 
having been built by Don Walter Colton, former Alcalde of Mon- 
terey, from the proceeds of a sale of city lots. The stone of 
which it is built is found in abundance near Monterey ; it is of a 
fine, mellow color, easily cut, and will last for centuries in that 
mild climate. The upper story, in which the Convention sat, 
formed a single hall about sixty feet in length by twenty-five in 
breadth. A railing, running across the middle, divided the mem- 
bers from the spectators. The former were seated at four long 
tables, the President occupying a rostrum at the further end, 
over which were suspended two American flags and an extraordi- 
nary picture of "Washington, evidently the work of a native artist. 
The appearance of the whole body was exceedingly dignifipd and 



150 ELDORADO. 

intellectual, and parliamentary decorum was strictly observed 
A door in the centre of the hall opened on a square balcony, sup- 
ported by four pillars, where some of the members, weary with 
debate, came frequently to enjoy the mild September afternoon, 
whose hues lay so softly on the blue waters of the bay. 

The Declaration of Rights, which was the first subject before 
the Convention, occasioned little discussion. Its sections being 
general in their character and of a liberal republican cast, were 
nearly all adopted by a nearly unanimous vote. The clause pro- 
hibiting Slavery was met by no word of dissent ; it was the uni- 
versal sentiment of the Convention. It is unnecessary to reca- 
pitulate here the various provisions of the Constitution ; it will be 
enough to say that they combined, with few exceptions, the most 
enlif^htened features of the Constitutions of older States. The 
election of Judges by the people — the rights of married women to 
property — the establishment of a liberal system of education — and 
other reforms of late introduced into the State Grovernments east 
of the Rocky Mountains, were all transplanted to the new soil of 
the Pacific Coast, 

The adoption of a system of pay for the officers and members 
of the Convention, occasioned some discussion. The Californian 
members and a few of the Americans patriotically demanded that 
the Convention should work for nothing, the glory being sufficient. 
The majority overruled this, and finally decided that the mem- 
bers should receive $16 per day, the President $25, tie -secre- 
tary and Interpreter $28, the Clerks $23 and $18, the Cnaplain 
$16, the Sergeant-at-Arms $22 and the Doorkeeper $12. The 
expenses of the Convention were paid out of the " Civil Fund," 
an accumulation of the 'duties received at the ports. The funds 
were principally silver, and at the close of their labors it was 



THE QUESTION OF SUFFRAGE. 151 

amasiiig to see the members carrying their pay about town tied 
up in handkerchiefs or slung in bags over their shoulders. The 
little Irish boy, who acted as page, was nearly pressed down b;^ 
the weight of his wages. 

One of the first exciting questions was a clause which had been 
crammed through the Convention on its first reading, prohibiting 
the entrance of free people of color into the state. Its originator 
was an Oregon man, more accustomed to and better fitted for 
squatter life than the dignity of legislation. The members, by 
the time it was brought up for second reading, had thought more 
seriously upon the question, and the clause was rejected by a large 
majority : several attempts to introduce it in a modified form also 
signally failed. 

It was a matter of regret that the question of suffrage could not 
have been settled in an equitable and satisfactory manner. The 
article first adopted by the Convention, excluding Indians and 
Negroes, with their descendants, from the privilege of voting, was, 
indeed, modified by a proviso offered by Mr. de la Guerra, which 
gave the Legislature the power of admitting Indians or the de- 
scendants of Indians, by a two-thirds concurrent vote, to the 
right of suffrage. This was agreed to by many merely for the 
purpose of settling the question for the present ; but the native 
members will not be content to let it rest. Many of the most 
wealthy and respectable families in California have Indian blood 
in their veins, and even a member of the Convention, Dominguez, 
would be excluded from voting under this very clause. 

The Articles of the Constitution relating to the Executive, Ju- 
dicial and Legislative Departments occupied several days, but the 
debates were dry and uninteresting. A great deal of talk was ex- 
pended to no purpose, several of the members having the same 



162 ELDORADO. 

morbid ambition in this respect, as may be found in our Icgialar 
tive assemblies on this side of the mountains. A member from 
Sacramento severely tried the patience of the Convention by his 
long harangues ; another was clamorous, not for his own rights but 
those of his constituents, although the latter were suspected of 
being citizens of Oregon. The Chair occasionally made a bung- 
ling decision, whereupon two of the members, who had previously 
served in State Assemblies, would aver that in the whole course 
of their legislative experience they had never heard of such a 
thing. Now and then a scene occurred, which was amusing 
enough. A section being before the Convention, declaring that 
every citizen arrested for a criminal offence should bo tried by a 
jury of his peers, a member, unfamiliar with such technical terms, 
moved to strike out the word " peers.'^ " I don't like that word 

* peers,' " said he ; " it a'int republican ; I'd like to know what 
wc want with peers in this country — we're not a monarchy, and 
we've got no House of Parliament. I vote for no such law." 

The boundary question, however, which came up towards the 
close of the Convention, assumed a character of real interest and 
importance. The great point of dispute on this question was the 

• astern limit of the State, the Pacific being the natural boundary 
on the West, the meridian of 42° on the North, and the Mexi- 
can line, run in conformity with the treaty of Queretaro, on 
the South. Mr. Hastings, a member from Sacramento, moved 
that the eastern boundary, beginning at the parallel of 42°, shouL. 
follow the meridian of 118° W. long, to 38° N. thence running 
direct to the intersection of the Colorado with 114° W. following 
that river to the Mexican line. This was proposed late on Mon« 
day night, and hurried through by a bare majority. Messi's 
Gwin and Halleck, of the Boundary Committee, with all the Cali 



TROUBLE ABJUT Ti.^ BOUNDARY. 165 

fornian members, and some others, opposed this proposition, 
claiming that the original Spanish boundary, extending to the line 
of New Mexico, should be adopted. With some difficulty a re- 
consideration of the vote was obtained, and the House adjourned 
mthout settling the i^uestion. 

The discussion commenced in earnest the next morning. The 
members were all present, and as the parties were nearly balanced 
the contest was very animated and excited. It assumed, in fact, 
more of a party character than any which had previously come up. 
The grounds taken by the party desiring the whole territory were 
that the Convention had no right to assume another boundary 
than that originally belonging to California ; that the measure 
would extend the advantages and protecting power of law over a 
vast inland territory, which would otherwise remain destitute of 
such protection for many years to come ; that, finally, it would 
settle the question of Slavery for a much greater extent of terri- 
tory, and in a quiet and peaceful manner. The opposite party 

that which advocates the Sierra Nevada as the boundary line — 
contended that the Constitution had no right to include the Mor- 
mon settlers in the Grreat Salt Lake country in a State, whose 
Constitution they had no share in forming, and that nearly the 
v^hole of the country east of the Sierra Nevada was little better 
than a desert. 

After a hot discussion, which lasted the whole day, the vote 
was reversed, and the report of the Boundary Committee (includ- 
ing all the Territory as far as New Mexico) adopted. The oppo- 
sition party, defeated after they were sure of success, showed their 
chagrin rather noisily. At the announcement of the vote, a 
dozen members jumped up, speaking and shouting in the most 
confused and disorderly manner. Some rushed out of the room ; 
7* 



154 ELDORADO. 

others moved an adjournment ; others again protested they would 
sign no Constitution, embodying such a provision. In the midst 
of this tumult the House adjourned. The defeated party were 
active throughout, and procured a second reconsideration. Major 
Hill, delegate from San Diego, then proposed the following boun- 
dary : a line starting from the Mexican Boundary and following 
the course of the Colorado to lat. 35° N., thence due north to the 
Oregon Boundary. Such a line, according to the opinion of both 
Capt. Sutter and Gen. Vallejo, was the limit set by the Mexican 
Grovernment to the civil jurisdiction of California. It divides the 
Great Central Basin about two-thirds of the distance between the 
Sierra Nevada and the Great Salt Lake. This proposition was 
adopted, but fell through on second reading, when the boundary 
which had first passed was readopted by a large vote. When it 
came to be designated on the map, most of the members were 
better satisfied than they had anticipated. They had a State with 
eiarht hundred miles of sea-coast and an average of two hundred 
and fifty miles in breadth, including both sides of the Sierra Ne- 
vada and some of the best rivers of the Great Basin. As to the 
question of Slavery, it will never occasion much trouble. The 
whole Central Region, extending to the Sierra Madre of New 
Mexico, will never sustain a slave population. The greater part 
of it resembles in climate and general features the mountain 
steppes of Tartary, and is better adapted for grazing than agricul- 
ture. It wiU never be settled so long as an acre of the rich loam 
of Oregon or the warm wheat-plains of California is left unten- 
anted. 

One of the subjects that came up about this time was the de- 
sign of a Great Seal for the State. There were plenty of ideas in 
the heads of the members, but few draughtsmen, and of the eight 



THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE. 155 

or ten designs presented, some were ludicrous enough. The 
choice finally fell upon one drawn by Major Garnett. which was, 
in reality, the best offered. The principal figure is Minerva, with 
her spear and Gorgon shield, typical of the manner in which 
California was born, full-grown, into the Confederacy. At hei 
feet crouches a grizzly bear, certainly no very appropriate sup- 
porter for the Gorgon shield. The wheat-sheaf and vine before 
him illustrate the principal agricultural products of the country, 
and are in good keeping — for Ceres sat beside Minerva in the 
councils of the gods. Near at hand is a miner with his imple- 
uients, in the distance the Bay of San Francisco, and still fur- 
ther the Sierra Nevada, over which appears the single word ; 
« Eureka !" 

The discussion on the subject was most amusing. None of the 
designs seemed at first to tally with the taste of the Convention, 
as each district was anxious to be particularly represented. The 
Sacraniento members -wanted the gold mines ; the San Francisco 
;• embers wanted the harbor and shipping ; the Sonoma members 
thought no seal could be lawful without some reminder of their 
noted " bear flag ;" while the Los Angeles and San Diego members 
were clamorous for the rights of their vines, olives and wild horses 
— so that, no doubt, the seal they chose was the most satisfactoi-y 
to all. The sum of $1,000 was voted to Mr. Lyon, one of the 
Secretaries, for the purpose of having it engraved. The Conven- 
tion also voted the sum of $10,000 to Mr. J. Ross Browne, its 
reporter, oq his contracting to furnish one thousand printed 
copies of the entire proceedings in English and three hundred in 
Spanish. This sum also included the remuneration for his labors 
as a stenographer. 

AftcT discussin'T various plans for meeting the expenses of the 



156 . ELDORADO. 

State, at the outset, an ordinance was adopted, (suljoct to the 
action of Congress,) the substance of which was as follows : 

1. One section out of every quarter township of the public lander 
shall be granted to the State for the use of ihe schools. 2. Sev- 
enty-two sections of unappropriated land within the State shall be 
granted to the State for the establishment and support of a Uni- 
versity. 3. Four sections, selected under direction of the Legisla- 
ture, shall be granted for the use of the State in estabhshing a 
Seat of Government and erecting buildings. 4. Five hundred 
thousand acres of public lands, in addition to the same amount 
granted to new States, shall be granted for the pui'pose of defray- 
ing the expenses of the State Government. And five per cent, of 
the .proceeds of the sale of pubhc lands, after deducting expenses, 
shall be given for the encouragement of learning. 5. All salt 
springs, with the land adjoining, shall be granted to the use of the 
State. 

It may probably be thought, on reading these various provisions 
for the filling of the State Treasury, that the appetite for gold 
must surely grow by what it feeds on. California, nevertheless, 
had some reason for making so many exacting demands. The 
expenses of the Government, at the start, will necessarily be enor- 
mous ; and the price of labor so far exceeds the value of real 
estate, that the ordinary tax on property would scarcely be a drop 
in the bucket. The cost of erecting buildings and supporting the 
various branches of government will greatly surpass that to which 
any state has ever been subjected. In paying the expenses of the 
Convention from the Civil Fund, Gov. Riley in many instances 
took upon himself weighty responsibilities ; but the circumstances 
under which he acted were entirely without precedent. His 
course was marked throughout by great prudence and good sense. 



DISTINGUISHED CALIFORNIANS. 157 

Towards the close of the Convention, those of the members 
tvho aspired to still fm-ther honor, commenced caucusing and 
the canvassing of influence for the coming election. Several 
announced themselves as candidates for various offices, and 
in spite of vehement disclaimers to the contrary the lines of old 
parties were secretly drawn. Nevertheless, it is impossible at 
present to pronounce correctly on the political character of the 
State ; it will take some time for the native Californians to be 
drilled into the new harness, and I suspect they will frequently 
hold the balance of power. 

One of the most intelligent and influential of the Californians is 
(ren. Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, whom I had the pleasure of 
meeting several times during my stay in Monterey. As Military 
Commandant, during the Grovernorship of Alvarado, he exercised 
almost supreme sway over the country. He is a man of forty-five 
years of age, tall and of a commanding presence ; his head is large^ 
forehead high and ample, and eyes dark, with a grave, dignified 
expression. He is better acquainted with our institutions and 
laws than any other native Californian. 

Among the other notable members were Covarrubias, formerly 
Secretary of Grovernment, and Jose Antonio Carrillo, the right- 
hand man of Pio Pico. The latter is upward of fifty -five years 
of age — a small man with frizzled hair and beard, gray eyes, and 
a face strongly expressive of shrewdness and mistrust. I saw 
him, one day, dining at a restaurant with Gren. Castro — the 
redoubtable leader of the Californian troops, in Upper and Lower 
California. Castro is a man of medium height, but stoutly and 
strongly made. He has a very handsome face ; his eyes are large 
and dark, and his mouth is shaded by moustaches with the gloss 
and color of a raven's wing, meeting on each side with his whis« 



158 ELDORADO. 

kers. He wore the sombrero, jacket and calzoneros of the coun- 
try. His temperament, as I thought, seemed gloomy and satur- 
nine, and I was gravely informed by a Californian who sat oppo- 
site me, that he meditated the reconquest of the country ! 

Capt. Sutter's appearance and manners quite agreed with my 
preconceived ideas of him. He is still the hale, blue-eyed, jovial 
German — short and stout of statm-e, with broad forehead, head 
bald to the crown, and altogether a ruddy, good-humored expres- 
sion of countenance. He is a man of good intellect, excellent 
corfimon sense and amiable qualities of heart. A little more 
activity and enterprise might have made him the first man in 
California, in point of wealth and influence. 

• 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE CLOSING SCENES OF THE CONVENTION. 

The day and night immediately preceding the dissolution of the 
Convention far exceeded in interest all the former period of its 
existence. I know not how I can better describe the closing 
scenes than by the account which I penned on the spot, at the 
time : 

The Convention yesterday fOctober 12J gave token of bringing 
its labors to a close ; the morning session was short and devoted 
only to the passing of various miscellaneous provisions, after which 
an adjournment was made until this morning, on account of the 
Ball given by the Convention to the citizens of Monterey. The 
members, by a contribution of $25 each, raised the sum of $1,100 
to provide for the entertainment, which was got up in re-turn for 
that given by the citizens about four weeks since. 

The Hall was cleared of the forum • and tables and decorated 
with young pines from the forest. At each end were the American 
colors, tastefully disposed across the boughs. Three chandeliers, 
neither of bronze nor cut-glass, but neat and brilliant withal, 
poured their light on the festivities. At eight o'clock — the 
fashionable ball-hour in Monterey — the guests began to assemble^ 
and in an hour afterward the Hall was crowded with nearly all the 



160 ELDORADO. 

Calilornian and American residents. There were sixty or seventy 
ladies present, and an equal number of gentlemen, in addition to 
tlie members of the Convention. The dark-eyed daughters. of 
Monterey, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara mingled in pleasing 
'contrast with the fairer bloom of the trans-Nevadian belles. The 
variety of feature and complexion was fully equalled by the variety 
of dress. In the whirl of the waltz, a plain, dark, nun-like robe 
would be followed by one of pink satin and gauze ; next, perhaps, 
a bodice of scarlet velvet with gold buttons, and then a rich 
figured brocade, such as one sees on the stately dames of Titian. 

The dresses of the gentlemen showed considerable variety, but 
were much less picturesque. A complete ball-dress was a happi- 
ness attained only by the fortunate few. White kids could not be 
had in Monterey for love or money and as much as $50 was paid 
by one gentleman for a pair of patent-leather boots. Scarcely a 
single dre^s that was seen belonged entirely to its wearer, and I 
thought, if the clothes had power to leap severally back to their 
Respective owners, some persons would have been in a state of 
utter destitution. For my part, I was indebted for pantaloons and 
vest to obliging friends. The only specimen of the former article 
which I oould get, belonged to an officer whose weight was consi- 
derably more than two hundred, but I managed to accommodate 
them to my proportions by a liberal use of pins, notwithstanding 
the diflference of size. Thus equipped, with a buff military vest, 
and worsted gaiters with very square toes, I took my way to the 
Hall in company with Major Smith and his brother. 

The appearance of the company, nevertheless, was genteel and 
respectable, and perhaps the genial, unr^trained social spirit that 
possessed all present would have been less had there been more 
uniformity of costume.. Gen. Riley was there in full uniform, 



A BALL-ROOM PICTURE. 161 

With the yellow sash he won at Contreras ; Majors Canhy, Hill and 
Smith, Captains Burton and Kane, and the other officers stationed 
m Monterey, accompanying him. In one group might be seen 
Capt. Sutter's soldierly moustache and clear blue eye ; in another, 
the erect figure and quiet, dignified bearing of Gen. Yallejo. Don 
Pablo de la Guerra, with his handsome, aristocratic features, was 
the floor manager, and gallantly discharged his office. Conspicuoua 
among the native members were Don Miguel de Pedrorena and 
Jacinto Rodriguez, both polished gentlemen and deservedly popu- 
lar. Dominguez, the Indian member, took no part in the dance, 
but evidently enjoyed the scene as much as any one present. The 
most interesting figure to me was that of Padre Ramirez, who, in 
his clerical cassock, looked on until a late hour. If the strongest 
advocate of priestly gravity and decorum had been present, he 
could not have found in his heart to grudge the good old padre the 
pleasure that beamed upon his honest countenance. 

The band consisted of two violins and two guitars, whose music 
•aade up in spii'it what it lacked in skill. They played, as it 
seemed to me, but three pieces alternately, for waltz, contra-dance 
and quadrille. The latter dance was evidently an unfamiliar one, 
for once or twice the music ceased in the middle of a figure. Each 
tune ended with a funny little squeak, something like the whistle 
of the octave flute in Robert le Diahle. The players, however, 
worked incessantly, and deserved good wages for their performance. 
The etiquette of the dance was marked by that grave, stately 
courtesy, which has been handed down from the old Spanish times 
The gentlemen invariably gave the ladies theii' hands to lead them 
to their places on the floor ; in the pauses of the dance both parties 
stood motionless side by side, and at its conclusion ihe lady was 
brJively led back to her seat. 



162 ELDORADO. 

At twelve o'cloclj supper was announced. The Court-Room 
in the lower story had been fitted up for this purpose, and, as it 
was not large enough to admit all the guests, the ladies were first 
conducted thither and waited upon by a select committee. The 
refreshments consisted of turkey, roast pig, beef, tongue and pdtes 
with wines and liquors of various sorts, and coflfee. A large supply 
had been provided, but after everybody was served, there was not 
much remaining. The ladies began to leave about two o'clock, 
but when I came away, an hour later, the dance was still going on 
with spuit. 

The members met this morning at the usual hour, to perform 
the last duty that remained to them — that of signing the Consti- 
tution. They were all in the happiest humor, and the morning 
was so bright and balmy that no one seemed disposed to call an 
organization. Mr. Semple was sick, and Mr. Steuart, of San 
Francisco, therefore called the meeting to order by moving Capt. 
Sutter's appointment in his place. The Chair was taken by the 
old pioneer, and the members took their seats around the sides of 
the hall, which still retained the pine-trees and banners, left from 
last night's decorations. The windows and doors were open, and 
a delightful breeze came in from the Bay, whose blue waters 
sparkled in the distance. The view from the balcony in front was 
bright and inspiring. The town below — the shipping in the har- 
bor — the pine-covered hills behind — were mellowed by the blue 
October haze, but there was no cloud in the sky, and I could 
plainly see, on the northern horizon, the mountains of Santa Cruz 
and the Sierra de Gavilan. 

After the minutes had been read, the Committee appointed to 
draw up an Address to the People of California was called upon 
to report^ and Mr. Steuart, Chairman, read the Address. Its tone 



SIGNING THE CONSTITUTION. 163 

and sentiment met with universal approval, and it was adopted 
without a dissenting voice. A resolution was then offered to pa\ 
Lieut. Hamilton, who is now engaged in engrossing the Constitu 
tion upon parchment, the sum of $500 for his labor. This mag' 
nificent price, probably the highest ever paid for a similar service 
is on a par with all things else in California. As this was theii 
last session, the members were not disposed to find fault with it, 
especially when it was stated by one of them that Lieut. Hamilton 
had -wiitten day and night to have it ready, and was still working 
upon it, though with a lame and swollen hand. The sheet for the 
signers' names was ready, and the Convention decided to adjourn 
for half an hour and then meet for the pui'pose of signing. 

I amused myself during the interval by walking about the town. 
Everybody knew that the Convention was about closing, and it was 
generally understood that Capt. Burton had loaded the guns at the 
fort, and would fire a salute of thirty-one guns at the proper mo- 
ment. The citizens, therefore, as well as the members, were in 
an excited mood. Monterey never before looked so bright, so 
happy, so full of pleasant expectation. 

About one o'clock the Convention met again ; few of the mem- 
bers, indeed, had left the hall. Mr. Semple, although in feeble 
health, called them to order, and, after having voted Gren. Riley a 
salary of |10,000, and Mr. Halleck, Secretary of State, $6,000 a 
year, from the commencement of their respective offices, they pro- 
ceeded to affix their names to the completed Constitution. At 
this moment a signal was given ; the American colors ran up the 
flag-staff in front of the Grovernment buildings, and streamed out 
on the air. A second afterward the first gun boomed from the 
fort, and its stirring echoes came back from one hill after another 
till they were lost in the distance. 



164 ELDORADO. 

All the native enthusiasm of Capt Sutter's Swiss blood was 
aroused ; he was the old soldier again. He sprang from his seat^ 
and, waving his hand around his head, as if swinging a sword, ex- 
claimed : " Grentlemen, this is the happiest day of my life. It makes 
me glad to hear those cannon : they remind me of the time when 
I was a soldier. Yes, I am glad to hear them — this is a great 
day for California !" Then, recollecting himself, he sat down, the 
tears streaming from his eyes. The members with one accord, 
gave three tumultuous cheers, which were heard from one end of 
the town to the other. As the signing went on, gun followed gun 
from the fort, the echoes reverberating grandly around the bay, 
till finally, as the loud ring of the thirty-first was heard, there was 
a shout : " That's for California !" and every one joined in giving 
three times three for the new star added to our Confederation. 

There was one handsome act I must not omit to mention. The 
Captain of the English bark Volunteer, of Sidney, Australia,* ly- 
ing in the harbor, sent on shore in the morning for an American 
flag. "When the first gun was heard, a line of colors ran flutter- 
ing up to the spars, the stars and stripes flying triumphantly from 
the main-top. The compliment was the more marked, as some 
of the American vessels neglected to give any token of recogni- 
tion to the event of the day. 

The Constitution having been signed and the Convention di&. 
solved, the members proceeded in a body to the house of Gen. 
Riley. The visit was evidently unexpected by the old veteran. 
When he made his appearance Captain Sutter stepped forward 
and having shaken him by the hand, drew himself into an erect 
attitude, raised one hand to his breast as if he were making a re- 
port to his commanding officer on the field of battle, and addressed 
him as follows: 



GEN. RILEY AND THE MEMBERS. l^f) 

General : I have boon appointed by the Delegates, elected 
by the people of California to form a Constitution, to address 
you in their names and in behalf of the whole people of Cali- 
fornia, and express the thanks of the Convention for the aid and 
cooperation they have received from you in the discharge of the 
1 esponsible duty of creating a State Government. And, sir, the 
Convention, as you will perceive from the official records, duly ap- 
preciates the great and important services you havd* rendered to 
our common country, and especially to the people of California, 
and entertains the confident belief that you will receive from the 
whole of the people of the United States, when you retire from 
your official duties here, that verdict so grateful to the heart of 
the patriot : ' Well done, thou good and faithful servant.' " 

Gen. Riley was visibly affected by this mark of respect, no less 
appropriate than well deserved *on his part. The tears in his 
eyes and the plain, blunt sincerity of his voice and manner, went 
to the heart of every one present. " Gentlemen :" he said, " I 
never made a speech in my life. I am a soldier — but I can feel; 
and I do feel deeply the honor you have this day conferred upon 
me. Gentlemen, this is a prouder day to me than that on which 
my soldiers cheered me on the field of Contreras. I thank you 
all from my heart. I am satisfied now that the people have done 
right in selecting Delegates to frame a Constitution. They have 
chosen a body of men upon whom our country may look with 
pride : you have framed a Constitution worthy of California. 
And I have no fear for California while her people choose their 
Representatives so wisely. Gentlemen, I congratulate you upon 
the successful conclusion of your arduous labors ; and I wish you 
all happiness and prosperity." 

The General was here interrupted with three hearty cheers 



166 ELDORADO. 

wliich the members gaye him, as Grovernor of California, foUowf rl 
by three more, " as a gallant soldier, and worthy of his country's 
glory." He then concluded in the following words : " I have 
but one thing to add, gentlemen, and that is, that my success in 
the affairs of California is mainly owing to the efficient aid ren- 
dered me by Capt. Halleck, the Secretary of State. He has stood 
by me in all emergencies.. To him I have always appealed when 
at a loss myself; and he has never failed me." 

This recognition of Capt. Halleck's talents and the signal ser- 
vice he has rendered to our authorities here, since the conquest, 
was peculiarly just and appropriate. It was so felt by the mem- 
bers, and they responded with equal warmth of feeling by giving 
three enthusiastic cheers for the Secretary of State. They then 
took their leave, many of them being anxious to start this after- 
noon for their various places of residence. All were in a happy 
and satisfied mood, and none 4e«g- so than the native members. 
Pedrorena declared that this was the most fortunate day in the 
history of California. Even Carillo, in the beginning one of our 
most zealous opponents, displayed a genuine zeal for the Constitu- 
tion, which he helped to frame under the laws of our Republic. 

Thus closes the Convention ; and I cannot help saying, with 
Capt. Sutter, that the day which sees laid the broad and liberal 
foundation of a free and independent State on the shores of the 
Pacific, is a great day for California. As an American, I feel 
proud and happy — proud, that the Empire of the West, the com- 
merce of the great Pacific, the new highway to the Indies, form- 
ing the last link in that belt of civilized enterprise which now 
clasps the world, has been established under my country's flag j 
and happy, that in all the extent of California, from the glittering 
snows of the Shaste to the burnino; deserts of the Colorado, no 



MORAL OF THE CONVENTION 167 

slave shall ever lift his arm to make the freedom of that flag a 
mockery. 

The members of the Convention may have made some blun- 
ders in the course of their deliberations ; there may be some ob- 
jectionable clauses in the Constitution they have framed. But 
where was there ever a body convened, under such peculiar cir- 
emustances ? — where was ever such harmony evolved out of so 
wonderful, so dangerous, so magnificent a chaos ? The elements 
of which the Convention was composed were no less various, and 
in some respects antagonistic, than those combined in the mining 
population. The questions they had to settle were often perplex- 
ing, from the remarkable position of the country and the absence 
of all precedent. Besides, many of them were men unused to 
legislation. Some had for years past known no other life than 
that of the camp ; others had nearly forgotten all law in the wild 
life of the mountains ; others again were familiar only with that 
practiced under the rule of a difi'erent race. Yet the courtesies 
of debate have never been wantonly violated, and the result of 
every conflict of opinion has been a quiet acquiescence on the part 
of the minority. Now, at the conclusion, the only feeling is that 
of general joy and congratulation. 

Thus, we have another splendid example of the ease and se- 
curity with which people can be educated to govern themselves. 
From that chaos whence, under the* rule of a despotism like the 
Austrian, would spring the most frightful excesses of anarchy 
and crime, a population of freemen peacefully and quietly de- 
velops the highest form of civil order — the broadest extent of 
liberty and security. Grovernments, bad and corrupt as many of 
them are, and imperfect as they all must necessarily be, never- 
theless at times exhibit scenes of true moral sublimity. What 1 



168 ELDORADO 

have to-day witnessed has so impressed me ; and were I a be 
liever in omens, I would augur from the tranquil beauty of this 
'evening — from the clear sky and the lovely sunset hues on the 
waters of the bay — more than all, from the joyous expression of 
every face I see — a glorious and prosperous career for the State 
ov California! 



CHAPTER XVIL 



SHORE AND FOREST. 



No cue can be in Monterey a single night, without being startled 
and awed by the deep, solemn crashes of the surf as it breaks 
along the shore. There is no continuous roar of the plunging 
waves, as we hear on the Atlantic seaboard ; the slow, regular 
swells — quiet pulsations of the great Pacific's heart — roll inward 
in unbroken lines and fall with single grand crashes, with inter- 
vals of dead silence between. They may be heard through the 
day, if one listens, like a solemn undertone to all the shallow 
noises of the town, but at midnight, when all else is still, those 
successive shocks fall upon the ear with a sensation of mexpres- 
sible solemnity. All the air, from the pine forests to the sea, is 
filled with a light tremor and the intermitting beats of sound are 
strong enough to jar a delicate ear. Their constant repetition at 
last produces a feeling something like terror. A spirit worn and 
weakened by some scathing sorrow could scarcely bear the re- 
verberation. 

When there has been a gale outside, and a morning of dazzling 
slearness succeeds a night of fog and cold wind, the swells arc 
loudest and most magnificent. Then their lines of foam are flung 
upward like a snowy fringe along the dark-blue hem of the sea, 

VOL. I. 8 



170 ELDORADO. 

and a light, glittering mist constantly rises from tLe hollow curve 
of the shore. One quiet Sunday afternoon, when the uproar wag 
such as to be almost felt in the solid earth, I walked out along the 
sand till I had passed the anchorage and could look on the open 
Pacific. The surface of the bay was comparatively calm ; but 
within a few hundred yards of the shore it upheaved with a slow, 
majestic movement, forming a single line more than a mile in 
length, which, as it advanced, presented a perpendicular front of 
clear gi-een water, twelve feet in height. There was a gradual 
curving -in of this emerald wall — a moment's waver — and the whole 
mass fell forward with a thundering crash, hurling the shattered 
Bpray thirty feet into the air. A second rebound followed ; and 
the boiling, seething waters raced far up the sand with a sharp, 
trampling, metallic sound, like the jangling of a thousand bars of 
iron. I sat down on a pine log, above the highest wave-mark, and 
watched this sublime phenomenon for a long time. The sand-hills 
behind me confined and redoubled the sound, prolonging it from 
crash to crash, so that the ear was constantly filled with it. Once, 
a tremendous swell came in close on the heels of one that had just 
broken, and the two uniting, made one wave, which shot far be- 
yond the water-line and buried me above the knee. As far as I 
could see, the shore was white with the subsiding deluge, It was 
a fine illustration of the magnificent language of Scripture : " He 
maketh the deep to boil like a pot ; he maketh the sea like a pot 
of ointment ; one would think the deep to be hoary." 

The pine forest behind the town encloses in its depths many 
spots of remarkable loneliness and beauty. The forest itself had 
u peculiar charm for me, and scarcely a day passed without my 
exploring some part of its solemn region. The old, rugged trees, 
blackened with many fires, are thickly beai-ded with long gray 



THE FOREST SWIMMING A RAVINE. 171 

moss, whicli gives out a hoarse, dull sound as the sea-wind sweep? 
through them. The promontory of Monterey is entirely covered 
with them, excepting only the little glens, or canadas, which wind 
their way between the interlocking bases of the hills. Here, the 
grass is thick and luxuriant through the whole year ; the pineF 
shut out all sight but the mild, stainless heaven above their tops ; 
the air is fragrant with the bay and laurel, and the light tread ol 
a deer or whirr of a partridge, at intervals, alone breaks the deli- 
cious solitude. The far roar of the surf, stealing up through the 
ivenues of the forest, is softened to a murmur by the time it 
reaches these secluded places. No more lovely hermitages for 
thought or the pluming of callow fancies, can be found among the 
pine-bowers of the Villa Borghese. 

After climbing all of the lesser heights, and barking my hand on 
the rough bark of a branchless pine, in the endeavor to climb it 
for a look-out, I started one afternoon on an expedition to the top 
of a bald summit among the hills to the southward. It was appa- 
rently near at hand and easy of access, but after I had walked 
several miles, 1 ciaw, from the top of a ridge, that a deep valley — 
a chasm, almost — was to be passed before I could reach even its 
foot. The side seemed almost precipitous and the loose stones 
slid under my feet ; but by hanging to the low limbs of trees, I 
succeeded in getting to the bottom. The bed of the valley, not 
more than a hundred yards in breadth, was one matted mass of 
wild vines, briars and thorny shrubs. I trusted to the strength of 
my corduroys for defence against them, and to a good horse-pisto. 
should I stumble on some wild beast's lair — and plunged in. At 
the first step I sank above my head, without touching the bottom. 
The briars were woven so closely that it was impossible to press 
through or creep under them ; I could only flounder along, draw- 



172 ELDORADO. 

ing myself up by the greatest exertions, to sink into another g ilf 
a few inches in advance. My hands and clothes were torn, my 
mouth filled with dry and bitter pollen from the withered vines 
that brushed my face, and it was only after an hour's labor that T 
reached the other side, completely exhausted. 

I climbed the opposite hill, thinking my object nearly attained 
when lo ! another, a deeper and rougher chasm still intervened. 
The sun was already down and I gave up the journey. From the 
end of the ridge I had attained, I overlooked all the circumferenca 
of the bay. Behind the white glimmer of the town the forest rose 
with a gradual sweep, while before me lay a wide extent of undu- 
lating hills, rolling off to the Salinas Plains, which appeared be- 
yond — 

** Dim tracts and vast, robed in the lustrous gloom 
Of leaden-colored even, and fiery hills 
Mingling their flames with twilight, on the verge 
Of the remote horizon." 

Taking another road, I wandered home in the dusk, not without 
some chance of losing myself among the frequent hollows and 
patches of chapparal. I lay in wait half an hour for two deer, a 
glimpse of whom I had caught in the woods, but as I had not the 
keen sight of a Kentucky hunter, I ^7as obliged to go home with- 
out them. 

The opposite shore of the promontory contains many sti'iking 
and picturesque points, to which the Montereyans often resort on 
parties of pleasure. One of the most remarkable of these is Punta 
dc los Cipreses, or Cypress Point, which I visited several times 
One of my most memorable days, while at Monterey, was spent 
there in company with my friend, Ross Browne. We started 
early in the morning, carrying with us a loaf of bread and a piece 



DINNER BY THE SEA-SIDE. 173 

of raw beef, as materials for dinner. After threadino; the maze^^ 
of the forest for several miles, we came upon the bleak sand-hills 
piled like snow-drifts between the forest and the beach. The bare 
tongue of land which jutted out beyond thcni was covered with a 
carpet of maritime plants, afiiong which I noticed one with a beau- 
tiful star-like flower : another, with succulent, .wax-like leaves,, 
bears a fruit which is greatly relished by the Californians. 

The extremity of the Point is a mass of gray rock, worn by the 
surf into fantastic walls and turrets. The heavy swells of the 
open sea, striking their bases with tremendous force, fill their 
crevices with foaming spray, which pours ofi" in a hundred cata- 
racts as the wave draws back for another shock. In the narrow 
channels between the rocks, the pent waters rrU inland with great 
force, flooding point after point and flinging high into the air the 
purple flags and streamers of sea-weed, till they reach the glassy, 
sheltered pools, that are quietly filled and emptied with every 
pulsation of the great sea without. A cold mist hung over the 
sea, which heightened the wildness and bleakness of the scene and 
made it inspiring. Flocks of sea-gulls uttered their shrill, piping 
cry as they flew over us, and a seal now and then thrust up his 
inquisitive head, outside of the surf. 

We collected the drift-wood which lay scattered along the 
shore, and made a roaring fire on the rocks. After having sliced 
and spitted our meat and set our bread to toast, we crept into the 
crevices that opened to the sea, and at the momentary risk of 
being drenched, tore off* the muscles adhering to them. When well 
roasted, their flesh is tender and nearly as palatable ar, that 
of an oyster ; it is of a brigat orange color, with a little black 
beard at one end, which is intensely bitter and must be rejected 
We seasoned our meat by dipping it into the sea, and when our 



174 ELDORADO. 

meal was ready, ate it from the pearly shells of the avelone.^ which 
strewed the sand. It was a rare dinner, that, with its grand ac- 
companiment of surf-music and the clanging sea-gulls as oui 
attendants. On our way home we earns suddenly on a pack of 
seven black wolves, who had been feeding on the body of a large 
stranded fish. They gave a howl of surprise and started off at 
full speed, through the bushes, where I attempted to follow them, 
but my legs were no match for their fleetness. 

I rode to Point Pinos one afternoon, in company with Major 
Hill. Our way was through the Pine Forest ; we followed no 
regular path, but pushed our horses through chapparal, leaped 
them over trees that had been uprooted in the last winter's 
storms, and spun-ed them at a gallop through the cleared inter 
vals. A narrow ridge of sand intervenes between the pines and 
the sea. Beyond it, the Point — a rugged mass of gray sandstone 
rock, washed into fantastic shapes, juts out into the Pacific. The 
tide was at its ebb, but a strong wind was blowing, and the shock 
and foam of the swells was magnificent. We scrambled from 
ledge to ledge till we gained the extremity of the Point, and there, 
behind the last rock that fronts the open sea, found a little shel- 
tered cove, whose sides and bottom were covered with star-fish, 
avelones, muscles, and polypi of brilliant colors. There were 
prickly balls of purple, rayed fish of orange and scarlet, broad 
flower-like animals of green and umber hue, and myriads of little 
crabs and snails, all shining through the clear green water. Th( 
av^lone, which is a univalve, found clinging to the sides of rocks, 
furnishes the finest mother-of-pearl. We had come provided with 
a small iron bar, which was more than a match for their suction 
power, and in a short space of time secured a number of their 
beautiful shells. Among the sand-hills and even in some part.= 



GFOLOOY AND INDIAN TRADITION 175 

of the forest, the earth is strewed with them. The natives were 
formerly in the habit of gathering them into large heaps and mak- 
ing lime therefrom. 

The existence of these shells in the soil is but one of the facts 
which tend to prove the recent geological formation of this part 
of the coast. There is every reason to believe that a great pari 
of the promontory on which Monterey is built, was at no very re- 
mote period of time covered by the sea. A sluggish salt lagoon, 
9ast of the Catholic Church, was not more than twenty years ago 
a part of the bay, from which it is now separated by a sandy mea- 
dow, quarter of a mile in breadth. According to an Indian tra- 
dition, of comparatively modern origin, the waters of San Francisco 
Bay once communicated with the bay of Monterey by the valley 
of San Jose and the Rio del Pajaro. I should think a level of 
fifty feet, or perhaps less — above the present one, would suffice 
to have effected this. The other Indian tradition, that the outlet 
of the Golden Gate was occasioned by violent disruption of the 
hills, through the means of an earthquake, is not based on 
natural evidence. The sloughs and marshes in the valley of San 
Joaquin, and around the Tulare Lakes, present every appearance 
of having been left by the drainage of a subsiding ocean. A 
thorough geological exploration of California would undoubtedly 
bring to light many strange and interesting facts connected with 
her physical formation. 

On our way home, we discovered a sea-otter, basking on an 
isolated rock. Major Hill crept stealthily to within about fifty 
yards of him, took good aim and fired. He gave a convulsive leap 
and tumbled into the sea, evidently badly wounded, if not killed 
His boady floated out on the waves, and a flock of sea-mews, at- 
tracted by the blood, flew round him, uttering their pipinof cry 



176 ELDORADO. 

ami darting down to tho water. The otter is rare on this part of 
the coast, and the skin of one is valued at $40. 

T shall notice but one other ramble about the forests and shores 
of Monterey. This was a visit to the ex-Mission of Carmel and 
Point Lobos, which I made in company with Mr. Lyon, one of tho 
Secretaries of the Convention. A well-traveled road, leading over 
the hills, conducted us to the Mission, which is situated on the 
Pacific side of the promontory, at the head of a shallow bay. The 
beautiful but deserted valley in which it stands is threaded by the 
Rio de Carmel, whose waters once gave unfailing fertility to its now 
neglected gardens. The Mission building is in the form of a hollow 
Square, with a spacious court-yard, overlooked by a heavy belfry 
and chapel-dome of sun-dried bricks. The out-buildings of thr 
Indian retainers and the corrals of earth that once herded thou 
•5ands of cattle are broken down and tenantless. We climbed into 
the tower and struck the fine old Spanish bells, but the sound 
called no faces into the blank windows. 

We bribed a red-headed boy, who was playing with two or three 
younger children in the court-yard, to bring us the keys of the 
church. His father — an American who had been many years in 
the country and taken unto himself a native wife — followed, and 
opened for us the weather-beaten doors. The interior of the 
Church was lofty, the ceiling a rude attempt at a Gothic arch, 
and the shrine a huge, faded mass of gilding and paint, with some 
monkish portraits of saints. A sort of side-chapel near the en- 
trance was painted with Latin mottos and arabesque scrolls which 
exhibited a genuine though uncultivated taste for adornment. 
The walls were hung with portraits of saints, some black and some 
white, some holding croziers, some playing violins and some bap- 
tizing Indians Near the altar is the tomb of Padre Junipero 



THE SEA-LIONS ON POINT LOBOS. 177 

Sena, the founder of Monterey and the zealous pioneer in the 
settlement and civilization of Oalifornia. 

We reached Point Lobos, which is three miles beyond the Mis- 
sion, by a ride along the beach. It is a narrow, bluff headland, 
overgrown with pines nearly to its extremity. The path brought 
us to the brink of a stony declivity, shelving down to the sea. 
Off the Point, and at the distance of not more than two hundred 
yards, is a cluster of low rocks, some of which are covered with a 
deposit of guano. As we reined up on the edge of the bluff, a 
most extraordinary sound met our ears — a mingled bellowing, 
groaning and snorting, unlike anything I had ever heard. The 
rocks seemed to be in motion at the first glance, and one might 
readily have imagined that the sound proceeded from their uneasy 
heaving on the waves. But, on looking more closely, I saw that 
their visible surface was entirely covered with the huge bodies of 
the seals and sea-lions who had congregated there — ^great, un- 
wieldy, wallowing creatures, from eight to fifteen feet in length, 
filing to and fro among each other and uttering their peculiar 
bellowing cry. Occasionally, a group of them would slip off into 
the water, and attracted by theii- curiosity, approach the shore. 
The sea-lions, with their broad heads, rough manes and square 
fronts, showed some resemblance to the royal beast, when viewed 
in front. They are frequently captured and killed by whalers for 
the sake of their blubber, which yields a considerable quantity of 
oil 

I attended the Catholic Church in Monterey one Sunday, to 
hear good old Padre Kamirez. The church is small and with 
scanty decorations ; the nave and gallery were both crowded by 
the Californian families and Indians. Near the door hung oppo- 
sit3 pictures of Heaven and Hell — the former a sort of pyramid 



178 ELDORADO. 

inhabited by straight white figures, with an aspect of solemn dis- 
tress; the latter enclosed in the -expanded jaws of a dragon, 
swarming with devils who tormented their victims with spears and 
pitchforks. The church music was furnished by a diminutive 
parlor-organ, and consLsted of a choice list of polkas, waltzes and 
fandango airs. Padre Ramirez preached a very excellent sermon, 
recommending his Catholic flock to follow the example of the 
Protestants, who, he said, were more truly pious than they, and 
did much more for the welfare of their church. I noticed that 
during the sermon, several of the Californians disappeared through 
a small door at the end of the gallery. Following them, out of 
curiosity, I found them all seated in the belfry and along the co 
ping of the front, composedly smoking their cigars. 

There was a little gold excitement in Monterey during njy 
visit, on account of the report that a washing of considerable rich- 
ness had been discovered near the Mission of San Antonio, among 
the Coast Mountains, sixty miles to the southward. According 
to the accounts which reached us, a number of people had com- 
menced working there, with fair success, and traders were begin- 
ning to send their teams in that direction. Grold was also said to 
exist in small quantities near the Mission of Carmel, where, in- 
deed, there were strong geological indications of it. These dis- 
coveries, however, were too slight to affect the repose of the town, 
which a much greater excitement c* uld scarcely have shaken 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

OLD CALIFORNIA ITS MISSIONS AND ITS LANDS. 

Three or four weeks of my stay in Monterey were principally 
passed in the office of tlie Civil G-overnment, where I was em- 
ployed in examining all the records relating to land titles and 
Mission property in California. Notwithstanding the apparent 
dryness of the subject, I found the documents curious and inter- 
esting. The smoky pajiel sellado on which they were written — 
the naive and irregular orthography — the rude drawings and maps 
which accompanied them and the singular laws and customs of 
which they gave evidence, had a real charm to any one possessing 
the slightest relish for the odor of antiquity. Most interesting of 
all was a box of records, brought from La Paz, Lower California, 
where many similar boxes, equally precious, were used for the 
wadding of Castro's cannon. Among its contents were letters of 
instruction from the Viceroy Gralvez, original letters of Padre 
Junipero Serra and mandates from the Bishops of Mexico to the 
Missionaries in Sonora and California. I was never tired of hear 
ing Gapt. Halleck, the Secretary of State, whose knowledge of the 
early history of California is-not equalled by any one in the coun- 
try, talk of those marvellous times and make clpar the misty 
meaning of the rare old papers. 



180 ELDORADO. 

The extensive history of Vanegas, an abridgment of which haa 
been introduced by Mr. Forbes into his work on California, is the 
most complete of all which have been written. It is mainly con- 
fined, however, to the settlement of the Peninsula, and throws no 
light on the after decay and ruin of the Missions of Alta Cali- 
fornia. These establishments, to which solely are owing the set- 
tlement and civilization of the country, have now entirely fallen 
from their former supremacy, and are of no further importance in 
a civil view. Some facts concerning the manner of their down- 
fall, which I learned during my labors among the archives, may 
be not inappropriately given here. Henceforth, under the 
ascendancy of American institutions, they have no longer an 
existence : shall we not, therefore, now that their day is over, 
take one backward glance over the places they have filled and the 
good or evil they have accomplished } 

The history of their original foundation is one of remarkable 
interest. Through the perseverance and self-denying labors of a 
few Catholic Priests alone, the natives, not only of the Peninsula 
and the Coast, as far north as San Francisco Bay, but the exten- 
sive provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa, were taught the arts of 
civilized life and subjected to the dominion of Spain. The lives 
of Padres Kino, Salvatierra and Ugarte exhibit instances of dan- 
ger, adventure and heroic endurance scarcely inferior to those of 
Cortez and Coronado. The great work they accomplished on the 
Peninsula and in the Northern Provinces of Mexico, in the begin- 
ning of the last century, was followed fifty years later by Padre 
Junipero Serra, who in 1769 founded the Mission of San Diego, 
the first settlement in Alta California. In the succeeding year 
he landed at Monterey, and by a solemn mass which was per- 
formed under an oak-tree still standing near the fort, took posses- 



RISE OF THE MISSIONS. 181 

sion of the s^^ot After laboring for thirteen years with indefati- 
gable zeal and a ^tivity, during which time he founded nine missions, 
tfie good Padre died in 1784, and was buried in the grave-yard of 
Carmel, His successors continued the work, and by the year 
1800 had increased the number of Missions to sixteen. Since 
that time only three more have been added. The Missions are 
named and located as follows : San Rafael and San Francisco So- 
lano, north of San Francisco Bay ; Dolores, near San Francisco ; 
Santa Clara and San Jose, near Pueblo San Jose ; San Juan, 
Santa Cruz and Carmel, near Monterey ; Soledad, San Antonio 
and San IMiguel, in the Valley of Salinas River ; San Luis Obispo ; 
La Purisima, Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara and San Buenaventura, 
near Santa Barbara ; San Gabriel and San Fernando, near Los 
Angeles ; and San Luis Rey, San Juan Capistrano and San 
Diego, on the coast, south of Los Angeles. 

The wealth and power in the possession of these Missions natu- 
rally excited the jealousy of Government, after California was 
organized into a territory. The padres, however, had been granted 
almost unlimited privileges by the earlier Viceroys, and for a long 
time no authority could be found to dispossess them. A decree 
of the Spanish Cortes, in 1813, relating to the Missions of South 
America, was made the basis of repeated attempts to overthrow 
the temporal power of the padres, but without effect, and from 1800 
to 1830, they revelled securely in the full enjoyment of Iheii 
wealthy establishments. 

That, indeed, was their age of gold — a right bounteous and pros- 
perous time, toward which many of the Californian and even of the 
old American re-sidents, look back with regret. Then, each Mis- 
sion was a little principality, with its hundred thousand acres, and 
its twenty thousand head of cattle. All the Indian population, 



182 ELDORADO. 

except the " Gentiles" of the mountains, were the subjects of the 
padres, cultivating for them their broad lands and reverencing 
them with the, same devout faith as they did the patron saint of the 
settlement. The spacious galleries, halls and courtyards of the 
Missions exhibited every sign of order and good government, and 
from the long rows of adobe houses flanking them an obedient 
crowd came forth, at the sound of morning and evening chimes. 
The tables of the padres were laden with the finest fruits and 
vegetables from their thrifty gardens and orchards, and flasks of 
excellent wine from their own vineyards. The stranger who came 
that way was entertained with a lavish hospitality for which all re- 
compense was proudly refused, and on leaving, was welcome to 
exchange his spent horse for his pick out of the caballada. Nearly 
all the commerce of the country with other nations was in their 
hands. Long habits of management and economy gave them a 
great aptitude for business of all kinds, and each succeeding year 
witnessed an increase of their wealth and authority. 

The first blow given to their privileges, was a decree of the Su- 
preme Government of Mexico, dated August 17, 1833, by which 
the Missions of Upper and Lower California were secularized and 
became public property. They were converted by law into 
parishes, and the padres, from being virtual sovereigns of their 
domains, became merely curates, possessing only spiritual powers 
over their former subjects. Instead of managing the revenue of 
the estates, they were paid from $2,000 to $2,500, at the option 
of G-overnment. The church was still kept for religious purposes. 
and the principal building for the curate's house, while other por- 
tions of the establishment were appropriated to the purposes ot 
eourt-houses and schools. 

This law of course emancipated the Indians from the authority 



THEIR DOWNFALL. 183 

of the padres, and likewise absolved the latter fiom their obliga- 
tions to maintain them. To provide for their support, therefore, 
the Government granted to every head of a family a lot from one 
to four hundred varas square, which was assigned to the use of 
themselves and their descendants, but could not be sold by them 
under penalty of the land reverting back to the public domain. 
The temporal affairs of each Mission were placed under the charge 
of an Ayuntamiento, who was commissioned to explain to the In- 
dians the new relations, and put them in possession of the land 
A portion of the revenue was applied to their benefit, and in re- 
turn therefor they were obliged to assist in cultivating the common 
*ands of the new pueblos or parishes. By a further decree, in 
1840, Governor Alvarado substituted majordomos in place of the 
ayuntamientos, giving them power to manage the temporal affairs 
of the Missions, but not to dispose of the revenues or contract 
debts without the permission of Government. 

These decrees put a stop to the prosperity of the Missions. The 
Padrcs, seeing the establishments taken out of their hands, e raployed 
themselves no longer in superintending then* cultivation ; while 
the Indians, though free, lost the patient guidance and encourage- 
ment they had received, and relapsed, into their hereditary habits 
of sloth and stupidity. Many of them scattered from their homes, 
resuming a roving life among the mountains, and very soon several 
of the Missions almost ceased to have an existence. Gov. Michel- 
torena, therefore, in 1843, in a pompous proclamation setting forth 
his loyalty to the Catholic Faith, attempted to restore the former 
state of things by delivering twelve of the Missions into the hands 
of the priests. He declared, at the same time, that all the cattle 
and property should be given up to them, but that those portions 
of the ^Mission estates which had boen sranted to individuals should 



184 ELDORADO. 

still remain in possession of the latter. The proclamation, so far 
as I can learn, never went into effect, and the chasing of Michel 
torena from the country soon put an end to his plans 

In the year 1845 Governor Pio Pico completed tha obliteration 
of the Missions. By a Government decree he directed that the 
Missions of San Juan, Carmel, San Francisco Solano and San 
Juan Capistrano should be sold at auction on a specified day. 
One month's notice was given to the Indian neophytes of the 
Missions of San Rafael, Dolores, Soledad, ^an Miguel and La 
Purisima to return to the cultivation and occupancy of the lands 
assigned them by Government, otherwise the same should be de- 
clared unoccupied and disposed of like the preceding. All the 
remaining Missions, except the Episcopal Mansion at Santa Bar- 
bara, were to be rented. Of the proceeds of these sales and leases 
one-third was to be used for the support of the resident priests, 
one-third for the benefit of the Indians, and the remaining third 
constituting the Pious Fund of California to be applied to purposes 
of education and beneficence. 

The Indian 'neophytes of the five last-named Missions having 
neglected to assemble, Pico, by a decree in October, 1845, or- 
dered that they should be sold to the highest bidder ; and at the 
same time, that those of San Fernando, Buenaventura, Santa 
Barbara and Santa Ynez, should be rented for the term of nine 
years. This was the last valid decree touching the Missions. 
The remaining Missions of Santa Clara, San Jose, Santa Cruz. 
San Antonio, San Luis Obispo, San Gabriel and San Diego werp 
therefore thrown immediately into the hands of the United States 
after possession had been taken by our troops ; and all Mission 
property not legally granted or sold under the laws of California, 
becomes part of the public domain. 



EXTENT OF THE MISSION PROPERTY. 185 

I endeavored to obtain some statistics of the land, cattle and 
other property belonging to the various Missions. The data on 
record, however, partake of the same indefinite character as the 
description of lands for which grants are asked. I found, it is 
true, an account of the boundaries of most of the Missions, with 
the quality of the land embraced by them, but the particulars, 
notwithstanding they were given by the resident padres themselves, 
are very unsatisfactory. The lands are described as lying between 
certain hills and rivers, or embracing certain plains ; sometimes 
thi^y are spoken of as canadas or llanos only. Some are of great 
extent ; the Mission lands of San Antonio contain two hundred 
and twenty-five square leagues and those of San Miguel five hun- 
dred and thirty-two. The others vary from twenty to one hun- 
dred square leagues. At a rough guess, I should compute the 
original Mission lands at about eight millions of acres ; probably 
four to five millions of acres have since been disposed of by salep. 
and grants. The remaining three millions of acres, comprising 
the finest lands in California, are the property of the United States. 
As much of it has been cultivated, or is capable of immediate 
adaptation for the planting of orchards, gardens and vineyards, the 
sale or disposal of it would seem to require difi"erent regulations 
from those which govern other portions of the public domain. 

The Mission buildings now are but wrecks of their former con- 
dition. The broken walls, deserted corrals, and roofless dwellings 
which surround them, are but melancholy evidences of their an- 
cient prosperity. Their character for wealth and hospitality has 
passed away with the rule of the padres and the vassalage of th^' 
Indians. They have had their day. They have fulfilled (and 
nobly, too, be it acknowledged) the purpose of their creation. T 
see no cause for lamenting, as many do, over their downfall The 



186 El.DORADO. 

spirit of onteipiisy which has now taken firm root in the soi], will 
make thoir neglected gardens blossom again, and deck their waste 
fields with abundant harvests. 

A subject of more direct interest to the California emigrants, is . 
that of the character and validity of the grants made to settlers 
previous to the acquisition of the country. The extravagant pitch 
to which land speculation has risen, and the uncertain tenure by 
which many of the best locations along the coast are held, render 
some official examination and adjustment very necessary. The 
amount of speculation which has already been done on an insecure 
basis, will give rise to endless litigation, when the proper tribunal 
shall have been established. Meanwhile, a brief account of the 
character of the grants, derived partly from Capt. Halleck's ad- 
mirable Report on California Afikirs and partly from an examina- 
tion of the grants themselves, may not be without its interest and 
uses. 

The first general decree for the granting of lands bears date of 
June, 1779, when Governor Neve, then established at Monterey, 
drew up a series of regulations, which were approved by the King 
of Spain, and for more than forty years remained in force, with 
little modification, throughout the territory. To each poUador 
(settler) was granted a bounty of $116 44 per annum for the first 
two years, and $60 per annum for the three following, with the 
loan of hors?s, cattle and farming utensils from the Grovernment 
Bupplies. Settlors in pueblos, or towns, had likewise the privilege 
of pasturing their stock on the lands belonging to the town.* Manj 
of the minor regulations established in this decree of Grov. Neve, 
are sufficiently amusing. For instance, no poblador is allowed to 
sell any of his animals, until he shall possess fifteen mares and onp 
Btallion, fifteen cows and one bull, and so on, down to cocks and 



THE LAW FOR GRANTING LANDfe. J87 

lieus. Ill: must then sell his extra stock to the Grovernment, v>hich 
of couise pays its own price. "^ 

Those regulations, designed only for the fii-st rude stage of 
colonization, were superseded by the decree of the Mexican Re- 
public for the colonization of its Territories, dated Aug. IS, 1824, 
which was further limited and defined by a series of regulations, 
dated Nov. 21, 1828. Up to the time when California passed 
into the hands of the United States, no modifications were made 
to these acts, and they consequently remain in force. Their most 
important provisions are as follows : 

The Governor of the Territory is empowered to make grants 
of lands to contractors (for towns or colonies) and individuals or 
heads of families. Grants of the first-named class require the ap- 
proval of the Supreme Government to make them valid. For the 
latter the ratification of the Territorial Assembly is necessary ; 
but in no case can the Governor make grants of any land lying 
within ten leagues of the sea-coast or within twenty leagues of 
the boundaries of any foreign power, without the previous ap- 
proval of the Supreme Government; The authorities of towns, 
however, are allowed to dispose of lands lying within the town 
limits, the proceeds to be paid into the municipal fund. The 
maximum extent of a single grant is fixed at one square league of 
irrigable land, four of temporal^ or land where produce depends on 
the seasons, and six of land for pasturing and rearing cattle — - 
eleven square leagues (about fifty thousand acres j in all. The 
minunum extent is two hundred varas square (a vara is a little ' 
less than a yard) of irrigable land, eight hundred of temporal, and 
twelve hundred of pasturage. The size of a house lot in any of 
the pueblos is fixed at one hundred varas. The irregular spaces 
and patches lying between the boundaries of grants throughout 



I8S ELDORADO. 

the country aie to be distributed among the colonists who occupy 
the adjoining land, or their children, preference being given to 
those who have distinguished themselves by their industry and 
moral deportment. 

All grants not made in accordance with these regulations, from 
the time of then- adoption up to July 7, 1846, when the American 
flag was raised at Monterey and the Departmental Junta broken 
up, are not strictly valid, according to Mexican law. The re- 
strictions against lands within ten leagues of the sea-coast were 
never removed. The only legal grant of such land, was that made 
to Captain Stephen Smith, of the port of Bodega, which received 
the approval of the Supreme Government. In the Macnamara 
Colonization Grrant, made by Pio Pico, only four days before the 
occupation of Monterey by our forces, it is expressly stated that 
the consent of the ^lexican Government is necessary to make it 
valid. Yet, in spite of this distinct provision, large tracts of this 
coast, from San Francisco to San Diego, were granted to citizens 
and colonists by Figueroa, Alvarado and other Governors. All 
these acts, having never received the sanction of the Supreme 
Government, would, by a literal construction of the la\r oe null 
and void. The Supreme Government of Mexico always reserved 
to itself the right of using any portion of the coast, promontories, 
harbors or public land of the interior, for the purpose of erecting 
Ports, arsenals or national storehouses. 

There are on file in the archives about five hundred and eighty 
grants, madb by various Governors between 1828 and 1846. 
Probably one hundred of these lack the full requirements of the 
Mexican law — exclusive of those located on the sea-coast. Some 
are complete and satisfactory in all respects, to the signature of 
the Governor, but the concurrence of the Territorial Assembly 



UNCERTAIN BOUNDARIES OF GRANTS. 189 

is wanting. In others the final concession is withheld for the pur- 
pose of procuring further information. Others again, appear to 
have been neglected by the proper authorities, and a few, on fur- 
ther testimony, have been denied. As the owners of such lands, 
in many instances, are entirely unaware of the imperfect nature 
of their titles, many sales and transfers have been made in good 
faith, which will hereafter be invalidated. Some individuals have 
acted in a more reprehensible manner, by making sales of lands to 
which they had no legal claim. 

In settling the boundaries of grants, which are sound in every 
respect, there will nevertheless be some difficulty. Much of the 
land was never surveyed, the locality and character beinir rudely 
sketched on paper by the petitioner, sometimes without any speci- 
fied extent, and sometimes with a guess at the quantity, which is 
often very wide of the mark. Such sketch, or topographical out- 
line is, I believe, required by law, and the collection embraced in the 
number of grants and applications on file, exhibits a most curious va- 
riety of attempts at drawing. In the absence of any further clue, 
it would be difficult to find many of the localities or anything in 
the least resembling them. The boundaHes are frequently given 
as included within certain hills, arroyos, rivers and marshes, but 
the space so designated frequently contains double the amount of 
land asked for. 

On the lands throughout the country, known and recognized as 
belonging to the United States, a number of emigrants have 
established themselves, making choice of advantageous locations, 
and trusting to obtain possession by right of preeminence as set- 
tlers. Nearly all of the fords on the Sacramento and San 
Joaquin and their tributaries — the springs and meadow lands at 
the bases of the mountains — and all sites which seem calculated 



190 ELDORADO 

for ftiture towns or villages — have been appropriated in like man- 
ner. The discovery of gold has rendered any bounty unneces- 
sary, to promote emigration. 

I endeavored to ascertain the exact extent of granted land in 
California, as well as the amount which will remain to the United 
States ; but owing to the indefinite character of many of the 
grants, and the absence of correct statistical information, was 
anable fully to succeed. The geographical limits within which 
the grants are embraced, are more easily traced. By referring to 
Fremont's Map of California, a line drawn from the mouth of 
Russian River, on the Pacific, north of Bodega, to the mouth of 
Rio Chico, a tributary of the Sacramento, and continued to the 
Sierra Nevada, would comprise the northern limit. From this line 
to the. Oregon boundary — a region two hundred and fifty miles in 
length by two hundred in breadth — belongs to the public domain. 
The land about the mouths of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, 
with some tracts on the Rio Americano, Cosumne, Calaveras 
and Mariposa, is included in various grants, but the remainder 
of the settled land as you go southward, is upon the western side 
of the Coast Range, and all of it within ninety miles of the 
sea. The best agricultural districts — those of Napa, San Jose 
and Los Angeles — ar5 already settled and cultivated, but the 
upper portion of the Sacramento country, the valleys of Trinity 
River and Russian River, and the lower slopes of the Sierra Ne- 
vada, embrace a great deal of arable land of excellent quahty. 
The valleys of the Coast Range north of San Francisco Bay have 
been but partially explored. 

The entire gold district of the Sierra Nevada belongs to the 
United States, with the exception of Johnson's Ranche on Bear 
Creek, Sutter's possessions on the Rio Americano, a grant on the 



DISPOSITION OF THE GOLD LAND. 191 

.josunme, and Alvarado's Ranche on the Mariposa, now in posses- 
sion of Col. Fremont. Some anxiety is felt among the mining 
population, as to the disposition which the Government will make 
of these vast storehouses of wealth. The day before the adjourn- 
ment of the Convention, a resolution was offered, requesting Con- 
gress not to dispose of any part of the gold region, but to suffer it 
to remain free to all American citizens. It was defeated by a 
bare majority, but many of those voting nay, avowed themselves 
in favor of the spirit of the resolution, objecting to its adoption on 
the ground of propriety alone. The population, generally, is op- 
posed to the sale of gold land for the reason that it would proba- 
bly fall into the hands of speculators, to the disadvantage of the 
mining class. The lease of land would present the same objec- 
tions, besides being but an uncertain privilege. The fairest and 
most satisfactory course would be the imposition of a small per 
centage on the amount of gold actually dug or washed out by 
each individual or company. The miners would not object to 
this ; they only oppose any regulation which would give specula- 
tors a chance to elbow them out of their ' bars' and ' pockets.' 



CHAPTER XIX. 

RETURN TO SAN FRANCISCO 

After the adjournment of the Convention, Monterey relapsed 
mto its former quiet, and I soon began to feel the old impatience 
and longing for motion and change. The season was waning, and 
barelj time enough remained for the accomplishment of my de- 
sign of a journey to the head of the Sacramento Yalley. My 
friend, Lieut. Beale, with whom I had beguiled many an hour in 
tracing out plans for overland journeys and explorations, which 
should combine a spice of bold adventure with the acquisition of 
permanently useful knowledge, had left a week previous, m com- 
pany with Col. Fremont and his family. A heavy fog had for 
several days lain like a bar across the mouth of the bay, and we 
feared that the anxiously-awaited steamer from Panama would 
pass without touching. This was a question of interest, as there 
had been no mail from the Atlantic States for more than two 
months, and the general impatience on that account was painful 
to witness. Under these circumstances, I grew tired of looking 
on the fresh, sparkling, intense blue of the bay and" the dewy- 
violet shadows of the mountains beyond it, and so one fine morn- 
ing thrust my few moveables into my knapsack and rolled up my 
sarape for a start. 



JOURNEY IN AN AMBULANCE. 193 

I had a better reliance than my own feet, in making the jour- 
ney Mr. Semple, ex-President of the Convention, with his sod 
and two of the ex-Clerks, were about leaving, and I was offered 
the means of conveyance as far as Pueblo San Jose. Mr. Semplo 
was barely recovering from a severe attack of typhoid fever, and 
was obliged to be conveyed in an army ambulance, which was 
furnished by Capt. Kane, of the Quartermaster's Department. 
We started at noon, under a hot, bright sun, though the entrance 
to the bay was still covered by the bar of dark fog. The steamer 
Unicorn was anxiously expected, and as a gun had been heard 
during the night, Gen. Kiley ordered a shot to be fired from the 
fort every half-hour, as a guide for the steamer, should she- be 
outside. Had there been any certainty of her arrival, our haste 
to receive the long-delayed mail would have induced us to post 
pone the journey. 

We toiled through the desolate sand-hills to the Salinas River, 
and lanched again upon its broad, level plains. Our team con- 
isted of four Californian horses, neither of which had ever been a 
week in harness, and consequently were not broken of the dashing 
gait to which they had been accustomed. The driver was an 
emigrant who arrived two months previous, by the Gila route, 
after suffering the most terrible privations. We had all our pro- 
visions, blankets and camping utensils stowed in the ambulance, 
and as it was not large enough to contain our bodies likewise, two 
of the party followed in a light wagon. Under the steady gallop 
at which our fiery horses drew us, the blue ridges of the Sierra de 
Gavilan soon rose high and bleak before us, and the timbered 
shores of the plain came in sight. Our crossing of the arroyos 
would have startled even an Alleghany st^ge-driver. When one 
f>f those huge gullies yawned before us, there was no check of oui 
vor.. I. 9 



194 ELDORADO. 

Bpeeid. We dashed sheer off the brink at an angle of fifty de- 
grees ; there was a giddy sensation of falling for an instant, and 
in the next our heavy vehicle regained the level, carried half-way 
up the opposite steep by the nQomentum of our descent. The 
excitement of such a plunge was delightful : the leaping of a five- 
barrbd gate on an English hunter would have been tame to it. 

On the skirt of the timber Mr. Semple pointed out the scene of 
a battle between the Californian and American troops, during the 
war. Foster, a scout belonging to the company of Emigrant 
Volunteers, while reconnoitering along the bases of the mountains, 
discovered a body of two hundred Californians on the plain. He 
immediately sent word to Burrows' company of Americans, then 
at the Mission San Juan, and in the meantime attacked them with 
the small force accompanying him. The fight was carried on 
among the trees. When the Americans — sixty-six in all — arrived 
on the field, they found Foster dead, with eleven wounds on his 
body. Four Americans and seven Californians were shot in the 
fight, which resulted in the defeat of the latter and their retreat 
up the plains to their post at the Mission of Soledad. Foster was 
buried where he fell, under a large oak, near the road. 

We entered the mountains, and encamped about dusk in a 
sheltered glen, watered by a little stream. Some benevolent pre- 
decessor had left us a good stock of wood, and in a short time the 
ruddy lights of our fire were dancing over the gnarled oak-boughs, 
and their streamers of grey moss. I tried my hand, for the first 
time, at making coffee, while the others spitted pieces of meat on 
long twigs and thrust them into the blaze. My coffee was approved 
bv the company, and the seasoning of the keen mountain air was 
not lost on our mfeal. The pipe of peace — never omitted by the 
genuine trapper or mountaineer — followed ;• after which we spread 



NIGHT AND MORNING IN THE MOUNTAINS. 195 

our blankets .Qu the ground and looked at the stars througn the 
chinks of the boughs, till we dropped asleep. There is no rest so 
sweet as that taken on the hard bosom of Mother Earth. I slept 
soundly in our spacious bed-chamber, undisturbed even by the con- 
tinued barking whine of the coyotes. The cool, sparkling dawn 
called us up betimes, to rekindle the fire and resume cooking. 
When the sun made his appearance above the hills, our driver said : 
** There comes old Hannah, to open the shutters of our house and 
let in the light" — the most ludicrous combination of scullionish 
and poetical ideas it was ever my lot to hear. I must acknowledge, 
however, that " Old Hannah" did her ofl&ce well, giving our house 
the most cheery illumination. 

As we wound through the lonely passes of the mountains, Mr. 
Semple pointed out many spots where he had hidden on his night- 
rides as messenger between San Francisco and Monterey during 
the war. From some of the heights we looked down valleys that 
stretched away towards Santa Cruz, and could discern the dark 
lines of redwood timber along their border. The forest near the 
Mission contains the largest specimens of this tree to be found in 
California, some of the trunks, as I was credibly informed, mea- 
suring fifteen feet in diameter. Captain Graham, an old settler, 
had five saw-mills in operation, which he leased to speculators at 
the rate of fifty dollars per day for each. The timber is soft and 
easily worked, susceptible of a fine polish, and when kept dry, as 
m the interior" of buildings, will last for centuries. 

Midway down one of the long descents, we met Messrs. Marcy 
and Tefil, who had been to San Francisco to attend to the printing 
»f the Constitution, bundles of which, in English and Spanish, 
were strapped to their saddles. Our next incident was the dis- 
covery of three grizzly bears, on the side of a caiiada, about a 



£96 ELDORADO. 

quai^r of a mile distant. Mr. Semple, who, with j:he keen sight 
of one accustomed to mountain life, was on the alert for game, first 
espied them. They were moving lazily among a cluster of oaks; 
their bodies were, apparently, as large as that of a mule, but an 
experienced eye could at once detect the greater thickness and 
shortness of their legs. We had no other arms than pistols and 
knives, and no horses of sufficient fleetness to have ventured an 
attack with safety ; so we passed on with many a wistful and lin- 
gering look, for the gray hide of one of those huge beasts would 
have been a trophy well worth the capture. Indeed, the oldest 
hunter, when he meets a grizzly bear, prefers making a boy's bar 
gain — " If you'll let me alone, I'll let you alone." They are 
rarely known to attack a man when unprovoked, but when wounded 
no Indian tiger is more formidable. 

Towards noon we reached the Mission San Juan. The bands 
of emigrants from the South had stripped all the fruit-trees in its 
gardens, but at a titnda in the Mission building, we were supplied 
with pears at the rate of three for a real — plump, luscious fruit, 
with russet peel, and so mellow that they would scarcely bear 
handling. While we were idling an hour in the warm corridor, 
trying to maintain a conversation in Spanish with some of the na- 
tives, a brother of Mr. Semple, who had come from Benicia to 
meet him, rode up to the inn. He had a gray horse, whose trot 
was remarkably rough, and at his request I changed places, giving 
up to him ray seat in the ambulance. We dashed out on the plain 
of San Juan at a full gallop, but my perverse animal soon lagged 
behind. He was what is called a " Snake horse," of the breed 
owned by the Snake Indians in Oregon, whence, in fact, he had 
been brought, still retaining the steady, deliberate pace at which 
he had been accustomed to haul lodge-poles. His trot was rack 



FORDING THE PAJARO RIVER. 197 

Ing, and as a final resort to procure a gallop, I bofrowed a jSlir of 
very sharp spurs from our driver. At the first touch the old Snake 
started ; at the second he laid his ears flatly back, gave a snort 
and sprang forward with galvanic energy, taking me far in advance 
of the flying ambulance. It was so long since he had traveled 
such a pace that he seemed as much astonished as I was at the 
eflfect of my spurs. 

The ambulance at last reached the Pajaro River, which flowed 
between deep and precipitous banks. The four horses plunged 
down the declivity ; the ambulance followed with a terrible shock, 
which urged it into the middle of the stream, where it stuck, the 
king-bolt having been snapped ofi". We partly stripped, and after 
working an hour with the ice-cold water above om* knees, succeeded 
in fastening with chains the fragment of the bolt. It wa-s now 
dinner-time, and we soon had a blaze among the willows and a pot 
of coffee boiling before it. The beverage, which never tasted more 
refreshing, simt a fine glow into our benumbed nether limbs, and 
put us into traveling humor again. The Pajaro Plains, around 
the head of the river, are finely watered, and under proper culti- 
vation would produce splendid crops. From the ridge descending 
to the valley of San Jose we overlooked their broad expanse. The 
meadows were stiU green, and the belts of stately sycamore had 
not yet shed a leaf. I hailed the beautiful valley with pleasure, 
although its soil was more parched and arid than when I passed 
before, and the wild oats on the mountains rolled no longer in 
waves of gold. Their sides were brown and naked to desolation ; 
the dead umber color of the landscape, towards sunset, was more 
cheerless than a mid-November storm. A traveler seeing Cali* 
fornia only at this season, would never be tempted to settle. 

As we journeyed down the valley, flocks of wild geese and 



198 ELDORADO. 

branl^cleaving the air with their arrow-shaped lines, descended tc 
their roost in the meadows. On their favorite grounds, near the 
head of Pajaro River, they congregated to the number of millions, 
hundreds of acres being in many places actually hidden under 
their dense ranks. They form in columns as they alight, and 
their stations at roost are as regularly arranged as in any military 
camp. As the season advances and their number is increased by 
new arrivals, they become so regardless of human presence that 
the rancheros kill large quantities with clubs. The native 
children have a curious method of entrapping them while on the 
wing. They tie two bones at the ends of a string about a yard in 
length, which they hurl into the air so skilfully that in falling it 
forms an arch. As the geese fly low, this instrument, dropping 
into a flock, generally takes one of them across the neck ; the 
bones fall on each side and drag the goose to the earth, where he 
is at once seized and dispatched. 

We passed Murphy's Ranche and the splendid peak of El Tore 
and reached Fisher's Ranche as the blaze of camp-fires under the 
sycamores was beginning to show through the dusk. Here we 
found Major Hill, who, with Mr. Duvivage and Midshipman 
Carnes, with six men from the wreck of the propeller Edith, had 
left Monterey the day before ourselves. Their fire was kindled, 
the cooking implements in order, and several of the party em- 
ployed in the task of picking three wild geese and preparing them 
for the pan. While at supper, one of Capt. Fisher's men excited 
the sporting propensities of some of our party by describing a 
lake in the valley, where the geese roosted in immense quantities 
As it was not more than a mile distant, muskets were got ready 
and four of the sportsmen set out by moonlight. They found 
some difficulty, however, in fishing out the geese after they were 



A SIROCCO IN SAN JOS^l. IPC- 

shot, and only brought two with them at midnight. I, who^wa& 
fatigued with my management of the Snake horse, crept into a 
cart-bed near the Ranche, laid a raw-hide over the top and was 
soon floating adrift on a sea of dreams. 

We had harnessed and were off before the daybreak brightened 
into sunri«ie. As we passed the last mountain headland and the 
mouth of the valley lay wide before us, I noticed a dim vapor over 
the place where the Pueblo San Jose should stand. The reason 
of this was explained when we reached the entrance of the town. 
We were met by a hurricane of dust which for several minutes 
prevented our advancing a step ; the adobe houses on each side 
were completely hidden, and we could only breathe by covering 
our faces with the loose folds of our jackets. Some wind intended 
for San Francisco had got astray among the mountains, and com- 
ing on San Jose unawares, had put in motion all the dust that had 
been quietly accumulating during the summer. 

The two weeks which had elapsed since San Jose had been 
made a capital, were suf&cient to have created a wonderful change 
What with tents and houses of wood and canvas, in hot haste 
thrown up, the town seemed to have doubled in size. The dusty 
streets were thronged with people ; goods, for lack of storage 
room, stood in large piles beside the doors ; the sound of saw and 
hammer, and the rattling of laden carts, were incessant. The 
Legislative Building — a two-story adobe house built at the town's 
expense — was nearly finished. Hotels were springing up in all 
quarters ; French restaurateurs hung out their signs on little one- 
story shanties ; the shrewd Celestials had already planted them- 
eelves there, and summoned men to meals by the sound of their 
barbaric gongs." Our old stopping-place, the " Miner's Home," 
vVHS converted into a " City Hotel," and when we drew up before 



200 ELDORADO. 

the door, we were instantly surrounded by purveyors from rival 
establishments, offering to purchase the two wild geese which 
hung at the wagon-tail. The roads to Monterey, to Stockton, to 
San Francisco, and to the Embarcadero, were stirring with con- 
tinual travel. The price of lots had nearly doubled in consequence 
of this change, so that the town lost nothing by its gift of the 
legislative building to Government. 

The ambulance, carrying Mr. Semple, set out for Benicia along 
the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, Those of us who were 
bound for San Francisco made search for other conveyances. 
Hearing that a launch was about starting, I walked down to the 
Embarcadero, about seven miles distant, where I found a dozen 
vessels anchored in an estuary which ran up among the tule. 
One of them was to leave that night at ten o'clock ; the fare was 
$10, and the time dependent on the wind, but usually varying from 
two to four days, I gave up the chance at once, and retracing 
my steps to the nearest ford, crossed Coyote River and struck 
across the meadows towards Whisman's Ranche, which I reached 
after two hours' walk. Evening came on while I was journeying 
alone in the midst of the boundless landscape — ^boundless, but for 
the shadowy mountain-piles which lay along the horizon, seeming, 
through the haze, like the hills of another planet which had 
touched the skirts of the globe on its journey through space. 
Long lines of geese and brant sailed through the air, and the white 
crane, from his covert on the edge of the marsh, uttered at inter- 
vals his strong, guttural cry. As the sunset gathered to a. blaze, 
the mountains across the bay were suffused with a rosy purple 
tint-, while those against the western sky stood in deep violet 
shadow. At last, the sounds of animal life died away on the plain, 
and the stars wore gradually kindled in the cloudless firmament 



NIGHT-CAMP UNDER THE OAKS. 20J 

By this iime I had approached a fine old grove, detached from 
the shore of timber. The sound of musket shots and the braying 
of mules told that a party had encamped there. No sooner had 
I reached the shadow of the trees than my name was shouted, and I 
recognized IMajor Hill and my other friends of his party. I threw 
down my sarape, took a seat among them and employed myself 
on the breast of a goose. We sat cross-legged around a glowing 
fire, passing the pans and cups from hand to hand, and using 
fingers or knives according to the toughness of the meat. The 
mules were picketed among the oats which grew knee-deep under 
the trees, and a few paces ofi", around a still larger fire, the sailors 
and teamsters brewed their bucket of tea and broiled their huge 
slices of beef Our meal over, we lighted our puro'h and stretched 
out at full length on the grass, enjoying to the full the quiet of the 
place and the soothing influence of the weed. And then came 
rest — rest delicious anywhere, but doubly so under the broad arms 
of the evergreen oak, with the full clear flood of moonlight broken 
into a thousand minute streams on the turf. It was a long' time 
before I could compose myself to sleep. The solemn repose of 
the grove — the deep shadows of the trees — the far, misty, silvery 
glimpses of plain through the openings — wrought powerfully on 
my imagination and kept every faculty keenly alive. Even in 
sleep the impression remained, and when I awoke in the night, it 
was with a happy thrill at opening my eyes on the same maze of 
moonlight and foliage. 

The next day I accompanied the party on foot, taking an oc- 
casional lift with the sailors in the wagon. The jolly tars were not 
at home on dry land, and seemed impatient to see the end of the 
journey. The driver was enjoined to keep a good look-out from 
the fore-top (the saddle-mule.) "Breakers ahead!" shouted 



202 ELDORADO. 

Jack, when we camo to au arroyo ; " hard up !" was tho answer 
'' Take a reef in the aft wheel!" was the order of the driver 
The lock was clapped on, and we rode in triumph into a smoother 
sea. We nooned at Sanchez' Ranche, reached the Mission Dolores 
at dusk, and started over the sand-hills in the moonlight. The 
jaded team stalled at the foot of a steep hill but was afterwards 
got off by unloading the wagon. I pushed on ahead, hearing the 
bustle and mingled sounds of the town,' long before I reached it 
I struck the suburbs half a mile sooner than on my previous re- 
turn, and from the first rise in the sand had an indistinct view of 
a place twice as large as I had left. I was too weary, however to 
take a long survey, but went directly to the Post Office, where I 
found Mr. Moore and his sons as cheerful, active and enterprising 
as ever, and was again installed in a comfortable nook of the 
srarret. 



CHAPTER XX. 

SAN FRANCISCO AGAIN POST-OFFICE EXPERIENCES. 

During my absence iu Monterey, more than four thousand emi- 
grants by sea had landed in San Francisco. The excitement 
relative to gold-digging had been kept up. by new discoveries on 
the various rivers ; the rage for land speculation had increased , 
and to all this was added the gathering heat of political conflict. 
San Francisco was something of a whirlpool before, but now it had 
widened its sweeps and seemed to be drawing everything into its 
vortex. 

The morning after I arrived, I went about the town to note the 
changes and improvements. I could scarcely believe my eyes. 
The northern point, where the Bay pours its waters into the 
Golden Gate, was covered with houses nearly to the summit — 
many of them large three-story warehouses. The central and 
highest hill on which the town is built, was shorn of its chapparal 
and studded with tents and dwellings ; while to the eastward 
the streets had passed over the last of the three hills, and were 
beginning to encroach on the Happy Valley. The beautiful 
crescent of the harbor, stretching from the Rincon to Fort Mont- 
gomery, a distance of more than a mile, was lined with boats, 
tents and warehouses, and near the latter point, several piers jut- 
ted into the water. Montgomery street, fronting the Bay, had 



204 ELDORADO. 

undergone a marvellous clitinge. All the open spaces were built 
up, the canvas houses leplaced by ample three-story buildings, an 
Exchange with lofty sky-light fronted the water, and for the space 
of half a mile the throng of men of all classes, characters and na- 
tions, with carts and animals, equaled Wall street before three 
o'clock. 

In other parts of the town the change was equally great. Tenia 
and canvas houses had given place to large and handsome edifices, 
blanks had been filled up, new hotels opened, market houses iD 
operation and all the characteristics of a great commercial city 
fairly established. Portsmouth Square was filled with lumber 
and house frames, and nearly every street in the lower part of the 
city was blocked up with goods. The change which had been 
wrought in all parts of the town during the past six weeks seemed 
little short of magic. At first I had difficulty in believing that 
what I looked upon was real, so utterly inadequate seemed the 
visible means for the accomplishment of such wonderful ends. 

On my way to call upon Col. Fremont, whom I found located 
with his family in the Happy Valley, I saw a company of Chinese 
carpenters putting up the frame of a Canton-made house. In 
Pacific street another Celestial restaurant had been opened, and 
every vessel from the Chinese ports brought a fresh importation 
An Olympic circus, on a very handsome scale, had been estab- 
lished, and a company of Ethiopian serenaders nightly amused 
the public. " Delmonico's" was the fashionable eating-house, 
where you had boiled eggs at seventy-five cents each, and dinner 
at $1 50 to $5, according to your appetite. A little muslin 
shed rejoiced in the title of " Irving House " A number of fine 
billiard rooms and bowling alleys had been opened, and all other 
devices for spending money brought into successful operation. 



MORE STATISTICS OF GROWTH. 205 

The gamblers complained uo longer of dull prospects ; there were 
hundreds of monte, roulette and faro tables, which were crowded 
nightly until a late hour, and where the most inveterate excesses 
of gaming might be witnessed. The rents of houses had increased 
rather than fallen. I might give hundreds of instances, but it 
would l^e only a repetition of the stories I have already told 
Money brought fourteen per cent, monthly, on loan. A gentle- 
man of Baltimore, who came out in the Panama, sold for $15,000 
a steam engine which cost him $2,000. Some drawing paper, 
which cost about $10 in New York, brought $164. I found 
little change in the prices of provisions and merchandise, though 
the sum paid for labor had diminished. Town lots were continu- 
ally on the rise ; fifty vara lots in the Happy Valley, half a mile 
from town, brought $3,500. I met with a number of my fellow 
passengers, nearly all of whom had done well, some of them hav- 
ing already realized $20,000 and $30,000. 

The population of San Francisco at that time, was estimated at 
fifteen thousand ; a year before it was about five hundred. The 
increase since that time had been made in the face of the greatest 
disadvantages under which a city ever labored ; an uncultivated 
country, an ungenial climatej exorbitant rates of labor, want of 
building materials, imperfect civil organization — lacking every- 
thing, in short, but gold dust and enterprise. The same expense, 
on the Atlantic coast, would have established a city of a hundred 
thousand inhabitants. The price of lumber was still $300 to 
$400 per thousand feet. In addition to the five saw-mills at 
Santa Cruz, all the mills of Oregon were kept going, lumber, even 
there, bringing $100 per thousand. There was no end to the 
springs of labor and traffic, which that vast emigration to Call- 



206 ELDORADO. 

fornia had set in motion, not only on the Pacific Coast, but through- 
out all Polynesia and Australia. 

The activity throughout the mining region during the fall sea- 
son, gave rise to a thousand reports of golden discoveries, the 
effect of which was instantly seen on the new-comers. Their 
highest anticipations of the country seeilied realized at once, and 
then- only embarrassment was the choice of so many places of 
promise. The stories told were marvellous even to Californians j 
what wonder, then, that the green emigrants, who devoutly swal- 
lowed them whole, should be disappointed and disgusted with tho. 
reality ? The actual yield on most of the rivers was, neverthe- 
less, sufficiently encouraging. The diggers on the forks of the 
American, Feather and Yuba Rivers, met with a steady return 
for their labors. On the branches of the San Joaquin, as far as 
the Tuolumne, the big lumps were still found. Capt. Walker, 
who had a company on the Pitiuna — a stream that flows into the 
Tulare Lakes — was in Monterey, buying supplies at the time I 
left. His company was alone in that desolate region, and working 
to advantage, if one might judge from the secrecy which attended 
their movements.* The placers on Trinity River had not turned 
out so well as was expected, and many of the miners were 
returning disappointed to the Sacramento. Several companies 
had been absent among the higher ridges of the Sierra Nevada, for 
a month or more, and it was suspected that they had discovered 
diggings somewhere on the eastern side. 

The sickly season on the Sacramento and its tributaries, waa 
iiearly over, but numbers of pale, emaciated frames, broken down 
by agues and diarrhoeas, Were daily arriving in the launches and 
steamers. At least one -third of the miners suffered more or less 
from these diseases, and numbers of men who had landed only a 



AN AGUE CASE. 207 

few months before, in the fulness of hale and lusty manhood, weie 
walking about nearly as shrunken and ]bloodless as the coi;pse8 
they would soon become. One of the most pitiable sights I ever 
beheld was one of these men, who had just been set ashore from a 
launch. He was sitting alone on a stone beside the water, with 
his bare feet purple with cold, on the cold, wet sand. He was 
wrapped from head to foot in a coarse blanket, which shook with 
the violence of his chill, as if his limbs were about to drop in 
pieces. He seemed unconscious of all that was passing ; his long, 
matted hair hung over his wasted face ; his eyes glared steadily 
forward, with an expression of suffering so utterly hopeless and 
wild, that I shuddered at seeing it. This was but one out of a 
number of cases, equally sad and distressing. The exposure and 
privations of a miner's life soon sap a frame that has not previ- 
ously been hardened by the elements, and the maladies incident 
to a new country assail with double force the constitutions thus 
prepared to receive them. 

I found the climate of San Francisco vastly improved during 
my absence. The temperature was more genial and equable, and 
the daily hm-ricanes of the summer had almost entirely ceased. 
A.S a consequence of this, the streets had a more active and pleas- 
ant aspect, and the continual whirl of business was enlivened by 
something like cheerfulness. Politics had taken' root in this ap- 
propriate hot-bed of excitement, and was flourishing with a 
rapidity and vigor of growth which showed that, though an exotic 
plant, it would soon be native in the soil. Meetings were held 
nearly every night at Denison's Exchange, where the rival parties 
• — for the different personal interests were not slow in arraying 
themselves against each other — had their speeches, their huzzas 
and their drinks. The Congressional candidates bore the brunt 



208 ELDORADO. 

of the struggle, since three or four of them were residents ; but 
the.Senatorship gave rise to the most deep-laid and complicated 
machinations. The principal candidates, T. Butler King, Col. 
Fremont and Dr. Gwin, had each his party of devoted adherents, 
who occupied the two weeks intervening between the nomination 
and election, in sounding and endeavoring to procure the votes of 
the candidates for the State Legislature, on whom the choice of 
Senators depended. 

Col. Fremont was residing at the time in the Happy Valley, 
in a Chinese house, which he had erected on one of his lots Mr. 
King was at Sonoma, where he had gone to recruit, after an illness 
which \jas near proving fatal. His friends, however, called a 
meeting in his favor, which was held in Portsmouth Square — an 
injudicious movement, as the consequence proved. Dr. Gwin was 
making an electioneering tour through the mining districts, for the 
purpose of securing the election of the proper Delegates to the 
State Senate and Assembly. It was curious how soon the Ameri- 
can passion for politics, forgotten during the first stages of the 
State organization, revived and emulated the excitement of an 
election in the older States. 

A day or two after my arrival, the Steamer Unicorn came into 
the harbor, being tlje third which had arrived without bringing a 
mail. These repeated failures were too much for even a patient 
people to bear ; an indignation meeting in Portsmouth Square was 
called, but a shower, heralding the rainy season, came on in time 
to prevent it. Finally, on the last day of October, on the eve of 
the departure of another steamer down the coast, the Panama 
came in, bringing the mails for July, August and September all 
at once ! Thirty-seven mail-bags were hauled up to the little 
Post-Office that night, and the eight clerks were astounded by the 



STRUCTURE OF THE POST OFFICE. 20P 

receipt of fortj-five thousand letters, besides iincoimted bushels of 
newspapers. I was at the time domiciled in Mr. Moore's garret 
and enjoying the hospitalities of his plank-table ; I therefore offered 
my services as clerk-extraordinary, and was at once yested with 
full powers and initiated into all the mysteries of counting, classi- 
fying and distributing letters. 

The Post-Office was a small frame building, of one story, and 
not more than forty feet in length. The entire front, which was 
graced with a narrow portico, was appropriated to the windows for 
delivery, while the rear was divided into three small compartments 
— a newspaper room, a private office, and kitchen. There were 
two windows for the general delivery, one for French and Spanish 
letters, and a narrow entry at one end of the building, on which 
faced the private boxes, to the number of five hundred, leased to 
merchants and others at the rate of $1,50 per month. In this 
small space all the operations of the Office were carried on. The 
rent of the building was $7,000 a year, and the salaries of the 
clerks from $100 to $300 monthly, which, as no special provision 
had been made by Government to meet the expense, effectually 
confined Mr. Moore to these narrow limits. For his strict and 
conscientious adherence to the law, he received the violent censure 
of a party of the San Franciscans, who would have had him make 
free use of the Government funds. 

The Panama's mail-bags reached the Office about nine o'clock. 
The doors were instantly closed, the windows darkened, and every 
preparation made for a long siege. The attack from without com- 
menced about the same time. There were knocks on the doors, 
taps on the windows, and beseeching calls at all corners of the 
house. The interior was well lighted ; the bags were emptied on 
the floor, and ten pairs of hands euTa^'od in the assortment and 



210 ELDORADO 

distribution of their contents. The work went on rapidly and 
noiselessly as the night passed away, but with the first streak ol 
daylight the attack commenced again. Every avenue of entrance 
was barricaded ; the crowd was told through the keyhole that the 
Office would be opened that day to no one : but it all availed no- 
thing. Mr. Moore's Irish servant could not go for a bucket of water 
without being surrounded and in danger of being held captive. 
Men dogged his heels in the hope of being able to slip in behind 
him before he could lock the door. 

We labored steadily all day, and had the satisfaction of seeing 
the huge pile of letters considerably diminished. Towards even- 
ing the impatience of the crowd increased to a most annoying 
pitch. They knocked ; they tried shouts and then whispers and 
then shouts again ; they implored and threatened by turns ; and 
not seldom offered large bribes for the delivery of their lett«.^rs. 
" Curse such a Post-Office and such a Post-Master !" said one ; 
" I'll write to the Department by the next steamer. WeHl see 
whether things go on in this way much longer." Then comes a 
messenger slyly to the back-door ; " Mr. sends his compli- 
ments, and says you would oblige him very much by letting me 
have his letters ; he won't say anything about it to anybody." A 
clergyman, or perhaps a naval officer, follows, relying on a white 
cravat or gilt buttons for the favor which no one else can obtain. 
Mr. Moore politely but firmly refuses ; and so we work on, un- 
moved by the noises of the besiegers. The excitement and anxiety 
of the public can scarcely be told in words. Where the source 
that governs business, satisfies affection and supplies intelligence 
had been shut off from a whole community for three months, the 
rush from all sides to supply the void, was irresistible. 

In the afternoon, a partial delivery was made to the owners of 



SOUNDS ON THE PORTICO. 211 

private boxes It was effected in a skillful way, though with somp 
danger to the cleik who undertook the opening of the door. On 
account of the crush and destruction of windows on former occa- 
sions, he ordered them to form into line and enter in regular order. 
They at first refused, but on his counter-refusal to unlock the door, 
complied with some difficulty. The moment the key was turned, 
the rush into the little entry was terrific ; the glass faces of the 
boxes were stove in, and the wooden partition seemed about to 
give way. In the space of an hour the clerk took in postage to 
the amount of $600 ; the principal firms frequently paid from $50 
to $100 for their correspondence. 

We toiled on till after midnight of the second night, when the 
work was so far advanced that we could spare an hour or two for 
rest, and still complete the distribution in time for the opening of 
the windows, at noon the next day. So we crept up to our blan- 
kets in the garret, worn out by forty-four hours of steady labor. 
We had scarcely begun to taste the needful rest, when our sleep, 
deep as it was, was broken by a new sound. Some of the be- 
siegers, learning that the windows were to be opened at noon, 
came on the ground in the middle of the night, in order to have 
the first chance for letters. As the nights were fresh and cool, 
they soon felt chilly, and began a stamping march along the por- 
tico, which jarred the whole building and kept us all painfully 
awake. This game was practised for a week after the distribution 
commenced, and was a greater hardship to those employed in tht 
Office than their daily labors. One morning, about a week after 
this, a single individual came about midnight, bringing a chair with 
him, and some refreshments. He planted himself directly opposite 
the door, and sat there quietly all night. It was the day for dis- 
patching the Monterey mail, and one of the clerks got up about 



212 ELDORADO 

four o'clock to liave it in readiness for the carrier. On opening 
the door in the darkness, he was confronted by this man, who, 
seated solemnly in his chair, immedialely gave his name in a loud 
voice : " John Jenkins !" 

When, finally, the windows were opened, the scenes around the 
office were still more remarkable. In order to prevent a general 
riot among the applicants, they were recommended to form in 
ranks. This plan once established, those inside could work with 
more speed and safety. The lines extended in front all the way 
down the hill into Portsmouth Square, and on the south side 
across Sacramento street to the tents among the chapparal ; while 
that from the newspaper window in the rear stretched for some 
distance up the hill. The man at the tail of the longest Ime 
might count on spending six hours in it before he reached the 
window. Those who were near the goal frequently sold out their 
places to impatient candidates, for ten, and even twenty-five dol- 
lars ; indeed, several persons, in want of money, practised this 
game daily, as a means of living ! Venders of pies, cakes and 
newspapers established themselves in front of the office, to supply 
the crowd, while others did a profitable business by carrying cans 
of coffise up and down the lines. 

The labors of the Post Office were greatly increased by the 
necessity of forwarding thousands of letters to the branch offices 
or to agents among the mountains, according to the orders of the 
miners. This part of the business, which was entirely without 
remuneration, furnished constant employment for three or four 
clerks. Several persons made large sums by acting as agents, 
supplying the miners with their letters, at $1 each, which in- 
cluded the postage from the Atlantic side. The arrangement? 



INCREASE OF PAY NEEDED. 213 

for the transportation of the inland mail were very imperfect, and 
these private establishments were generally preferred. 

The necessity of an immediate provision for the support of all 
branches of Government service, was, (and still remains, ^at the 
time I write,) most imminent. Unless something be speedily 
done, the administration of many offices in California must be- 
come impossible. The plan of relief is simple and can readily be 
accomplished — in the Civil Department, by a direct increase of 
emolument, in the Military and Naval, by an advance in the price 
of rations, during service on the Pacific Coast. Our legislators 
appear hardly to understand the enormous standard of prices, and 
the fact that many years must elapse before it can be materially 
lessened. Men in these days will not labor for pure patriotism, 
v^hen the country is so well able to pay them. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



SACRAMENTO RIVER AND CITY. 



The change of temperature following the heavy shower which 
fell the day after my arrival at San Francisco, seemed to announce 
the near approach of the rainy season. I made all haste, there- 
fore, to start on my tour through the northern placers, fearing 
lest it might be made impossible by a longer delay. The schooner 
James L. Day was advertised to leave for Sacramento City about 
the time we had finished distributing the mail, and as no prepara- 
tion is required for a journey in California, I took my sarape and 
went down to Clark's Point, which is to San Francisco what 
Whitehall is to New York. The fare was $14, which included 
our embarkation — a matter of some little consequence, when $5 
was frequently paid to be rowed out to a vessel. There were 
about seventy passengers on board, the greater part of whom had 
just arrived in the steamer Panama. The schooner was a trim, 
beautiful craft, that had weathered the gales of Cape Horn. A 
strong wind was blowing from the south, with a rain coming up, 
as we hove anchor and fired a parting gun. We passed the 
islands of Yerba Buena and Alcatraz, looked out through the 
Golden Gate on the Pacific, and dashed into the strait connecting 
the Bay of San Francisco with Pablo Bay, before a ten-knot 



THE STRAITS OF CARQUINEZ. 215 

breeze. This strait, six miles in length and about three iii 
breadth, presents a constant variety of scene, from the irregu- 
larity of its mountain-shores. In the middle of it stands an island 
of red volcanic rock, near which are two smaller ones, white with 
guano, called The Brothers. At the entrance of Pablo Bay are 
two others. The Sisters, similar in size and form. 

Pablo Bay is nearly circular, and about twelve miles in diame- 
ter. The creeks of Napa, Petaluma and San Rafael empty into 
it on the northern side, opposite IMare Island, so called from a 
wild mare who was formerly seen at the head of a band of elk, 
galloping over its broad meadows. We had but a dim glimpse of 
the shore through the rain. Our schooner bent to the wind, and 
cut the water so swiftly, that it fairly whistled under her sharp 
prow. The spray dashed over the deck and the large sails were 
motionless in their distension, as we ran before the gale, at a most 
exhilarating speed. A very good dinner at $1, was served up in 
the eight-by-ten cabin and there was quite a run upon the cook's 
galley, for pies, at$l apiece. 

We sp3odily mad 3 the entrance to the Straits of Carquinez, 
\vhere the mountains approach to within three-quarters of a mile. 
Several of the newly-arrived emigrants expressed themselves de- 
lighted with the barren shores and scanty patches of chapparal 
It was their first view of the inland scenery of California. The 
rain had already brought out a timid green on the hills, and the 
soil no longer looked parched and dead. " Ah !" said one of the 
company, " what beautiful mountains ! this California is really a 
splendid country." " Very well," thought I, " but if you dig 
less gold than you anticipate, catch the ague or fail in speculation, 
what will you say then } Will not the picture you draw be as 
dark and forbiddiuo; as it is now deli^'htful ?" 



216 ' ELDOR-ADO. 

We passed a small sail-boat, bound for Sacramento and filled 
with emigrants Half of tbem were employed in bailing out the 
scud throwQ over the gunwale by every surge. We shot by them 
like a flash, and came in sight of Benicia, once thought to be a 
rival to San Francisco. In a glen on the opposite shore is the 
little town of Martinez. Benicia is a very pretty place ; the situa- 
tion is well chosen, the land gradually sloping back from the 
water, with ample space for the spread of the town. The anchor- 
age is excellent, vessels of the largest size being able to lie so near 
shore as to land goods without lightering. The back country, 
including the Napa and Sonoma valleys, is one of the finest agri- 
cultural districts of California. Notwithstanding these advan 
tages, Benicia must always remain inferior, in commercial im- 
portance, both to San Francisco and Sacramento City. While in 
the country, I was much amused in reading the letters respecting 
it, which had been sent home and published, many of them pre- 
dicting the speedy downfall of San Francisco, on account of the 
superior advantages of the former place. On the strength of 
these letters vessels had actually cleared for Benicia, with large 
cargoes. Now, anchorage is one thing, and a good market 
another ; a ship may lie in greater safety at Albany, but the sen- 
sible merchant charters his vessel for New York. San Francisco 
is marked by Nature and Fate (though many will disagree with 
me in the first half of the assertion) for the great commercial mart 
of the Pacific, and whatever advantages she may lack will soon be 
limply provided for by her wealth and enterprise. 

Benicia — very properly, as I think — has been made the Naval 
and Military Station for the Bay. Gen. Smith and Commodore 
Jones both have their head quarters there. The General's house 
•-nd the military barracks are built on a headland at the entrance 



NEW-YORK-OF-THE-PACIFIC. 217 

of SuisiiD Bay — a breezy and healthy situation. ]\Ionte Diablo, 
the giant of the Coast Range, rises high and blue on the other 
side of the strait, and away beyond the waters of the Bay, beyond 
the waste marshes of tule and the broad grazing plains, and above 
the low outlines of many an intermediate chain, loom up faint and 
far and silvery, the snows of the Sierra Nevada. 

We came-to off New-York-of-the-Pacific in four hours after 
leaving San Francisco — a distance of fifty miles. The former 
place, with its aspiring but most awkward name, is located- on a 
level plain, on the southern shore of Suisun Bay, backed by a 
range of barren mountains. It consists of three houses, one of 
which is a three-story one, and several vessels at anchor near the 
shore. The anchorage is good, and were it not for the mosquitos, 
the crews might live pleasantly enough, in their seclusion. There 
never will be a large town there, for the simple reason that there 
is no possible cause why there should be one. Stockton and 
Sacramento City supply the mines, San Francisco takes the com- 
merce, Benicia the agricultural produce, with a. fair share of the 
inland trade, and this Gotham-of-the-West, I fear, must continuo 
to belie its title. 

We anchored, waiting for the steamer Sacramento, which wa.-? 
to meet the schooner and receive her passengers. She came along 
side after dark, but owing to the violence of the rain, did not leave 
until midnight. She was a small, light craft, not more than sixty 
feet in length, and had been shipped to San Francisco around 
Cape Horn. She was at first employed to run between Sacra- 
mento City and San Francisco, but proved insufficient to weather 
the rough seas of the open Bay. The arrival of the steamer 
McKim, which is a good sea-boat and therefore adapted to the 
navigation of the Bay, where the waves are little less violent than 

VOL. I. 10 



2]H ELDORADO. 

in the I^acific, drove her from the route, but she still continued 
to run on the Sacramento River. Many small steamers, of 
similar frail construction, were sent around the Horn, the specu- 
lators imagining they were the very thing for inland navigation 
The engine of the Sacramento was on deck, as also was her den 
of a cabin — a filthy place, about six feet by eight. A few berths, 
made of two coarse blankets laid on a plank, were to be had at 
^5 each ; but I preferred taking a camp-stool, throwing my sarape 
Dver my shoulders and sleeping with my head on the table, rather 
khan pay such an unchristian price. 

As the day dawned, gloomy and wet, I went on deck. We were 
near the head of " The Slough," a broad navigable cut-off, which 
saves twenty miles in making the trip. The banks are lined with 
thickets, behind which extends a narrow bolt of timber, princi- 
pally oak and sycamore. Here and there, in cleared spots, were 
the cabins of the woodmen, or of squatters, who intend claiming 
preemption rights. The wood, which brings $12 or $15 a cord, 
IS piled on the bluff banks, and the steamers back up to it, 
whenever they are obliged to " wood up." At the junction of 
the slough with the river proper, there is a small village of Indian 
huts, built of dry tule reeds. 

The Sacramento is a beautiful stream. Its width varies from 
two to three hundred yards, and its banks fiinged with rich 
foliage, present, by their continuous windings, a fine succession of 
views. In appearance, it reminded me somewhat of the Delaware. 
The foliage, washed by the rain, glistened green and freshly in the 
morning ; and as we advanced the distant mountains on either 
hand were occasionally visible through gaps in the timber. Be- 
fore reaching the town of Sutter, we passed a ranche, the produce 
of which, in vegetables alone, was said to have returned the owner 



VIEW OF SACRAxMENTO CITY 219 

--a Greiman, by the name of Schwartz — $25,000 during the sea- 
son. Sutter is a town of some thirty houses, scattered along the 
bank for half a mile. Three miles above this we came in sight 
of Sacramento City. The forest of masts along the embarcadero 
more than rivalled the splendid growth of the soil. Boughs and 
spars were mingled together in striking contrast ; the cables were 
fastened to the trunks and sinewy roots of the trees ; sign-boardfc 
and figure-heads were sot up on shore, facing the levee, and galleys 
and deck-cabins were turned out " to grass," leased as shops, or 
occupied as dwellings. The aspect of the place, on landing, was 
decidedly more novel and picturesque than that of any other town 
in the country. 

The plan of Sacramento City is very simple. Situated on the 
eastern bank of the Sacramento, at its junction with the Rio 
Americano, the town plot embraces a square of about one and 
a-half miles to a side. It is laid out in regular right-angles, in 
Philadelphia style, those running east and west named after the 
alphabet, and those north and south after the arithmetic. The 
limits of the town extended to nearly one square mile, and the 
number of inhabitants, in tents and houses, fell little short of ten 
thousand. The previous April there were just four houses in the 
place ! Can the world match a growth like this } 

The original forest-trees, standing in all parts of the town, give 
it a very picturesque appearance. Many f)f the streets are lined 
with oaks and sycamores, six feet in diameter, and spreading 
ample boughs on every side. The emigrants have ruined the 
finest of them by building camp-fires at their bases, which, in some 
instances, have burned completely through, leaving a charred and 
blackened arch for the superb tree to rest upon. The storm 
which occurred a few days previous to my visit, snapped asunder 



220 ELDORADO. 

several trunks which had been thus weakened, one of them crush- 
ing to the earth a canvas house in which a man lay asleep. A 
heavy bough struck the ground on each side of him, saving his 
life. The destruction of these trees is the more to be regretted, 
as the intense heat of the Summer days, when the mercury stands 
at 120°, renders their shade a thing of absolute necessity. 

The value of real estate in Sacramento City is only exceeded by 
that of San Francisco. Lots twenty by seventy-five feet, in the 
best locations, brought from $3,000 to $3,500. Rents were on 
a scale equally enormous. The City Hotel, which was formerly a 
saw-mill, erected by Capt. Sutter, paid $30,000 per annum. A 
new hotel, going up on the levee, had been already rented at 
$35,000. Two drinking and gaming-rooms, on a business street, 
paid each $1,000, monthly, invariably in advance. Many of the 
stores transacted business averaging from $1,000 to $3,000 daily. 
Board was $20 per week at the restaurants and $5 per day at the 
City Hotel. But what is the use of repeating figures ? These 
dead statistics convey no idea of the marvellous state of things in 
the place. It was difficult enough for those who saw to believe, 
and I can only hope to reproduce the very faintest impression of 
the pictures 1 there beheld. ^ It was frequently wondered, on this 
side of the Bocky Mountains, why the gold dust was not sent out 
of the country in larger quantities, when at least forty thousand 
men were turning up the placers. The fact is, it was required aa 
currency, and the amount in circulation might be counted by mil- 
lions. Why, the building up of a single street in Sacramento 
City (J street) cost half a million^ at least ! The value of all 
the houses in the city, frail and perishing as many of them were, 
could not have been less than $2,000,000. 

It must be acknowledged there is another side to the picturo. 



[TS LIFE AND BUSINESS, 221 

1 hree-fourths of the people who settle in Sacramento City are 
visited by agues, diarrhoeas and other reducing complaints. In 
Summer the place is a furnace, in Winter little better than a 
swamp ; and the influx of emigrants and discouraged miners gene- 
rally exceeds the demand for labor. A healthy, sensible, wide- 
awake man, however, cannot fail to prosper. In a country where 
Labor rules everything, no sound man has a right to complain 
When carpenters make a strike because they only get ticelve dol 
lars a day, one may be sure there is room enough for industry and 
enterprise of all kinds. 

The city was peopled principally by New-Yorkers, Jerseymen 
and people from the Western States. In activity and public 
spirit, it was nothing behind San Francisco ; its growth, indeed, 
in view of the difference of location, was more remarkable. The 
inhabitants had elected a Town Council, adopted a City Charter 
and were making exertions to have the place declared a port of 
entry. The political waters were being stirred a little, in antici- 
pation of the approaching el(3ction. Mr. Gilbert, of the Alta 
California, and Col. Steuart, candidate for Governor, were in the 
city. A political meeting, which had been held a few nights before, 
in front of the City Hotel, pas.sed off as uproariously and with as 
zealous a sentiment of patriotism as such meetings are wont to 
exhibit at home. Among the residents whom I ipet during my 
visit, was Gen. Green, of Texas, known as commander of the Mier 
Expedition. 

The city already boasted a weekly paper, the Placer Times, 
which was editqd and published by Mr. Giles, formerly of the 
Tribune Ofl&ce. His printers were all old friends of mine — one of 
them, in fact, a former fellow-apprentice — and from the fraternal 
feeling that all possess who havp ever belonged to the craft, the 



222 ELDORADO. 

place became at once familiar and home-like. The little paper, 
which had a page of about twelve by eighteen inches, had a circu- 
lation of five hundred copies, at $12 a year ; the amount received 
^vcekly for jobs and advertising, varied from $1,000 to $2,000. 
Tickets were printed for the difierent political candidates, at the 
late of $20 for every thousand. The compositors were paid $15 
daily. Another compositor from the Tribune Office had estab- 
lished a restaurant, and was doing a fine business. His dining 
Baloon was an open tent, unfloored ; the tables were plank, with 
rough benches on each side ; the waiters rude Western boys who 
had come over the Rocky Mountains — but the meals he furnished 
could not have been surpassed in any part of the world for sub- 
Btantial richness of quality. There was every day abundance of 
elk steaks, unsurpassed for sweet and delicate flavor ; venison, 
which had been fattened on the mountain acorns ; mutton, such as 
nothing but the wild pastures of California could produce ; salmon 
and salmon-trout of astonishing size, from the Sacramento River, 
and now and then the solid flesh of the gi'izzly bear. The salmon- 
trout exceeded in fatness any fresh-water fish I ever saw ; they 
were between two and three feet in length, with a layer of pure 
fat, quarter of an inch in thickness, over the ribs. When made 
into chowder or stewed in claret, they would have thrown into ec- 
stacies the most inveterate Parisian gourmand. The full-mooD 
face of the proprietor of the restaurant was accounted for, when on( 
had tasted his fare ; after living there a few days, I could feel my 
own dimensions sensibly enlarged. 

The road to Sutter's Fort, the main streets and the levee front- 
ing on the Embarcadero, were constantly thronged with the teams 
of emigrants, coming in from the mountains. Such worn, weather- 
beaten individuals I never before imagined. Their tents were 



CATTLE OF EXPERIENCE. 223 

pitched by hundreds in the thickets around the town, where they 
rested a few days before starting to winter in the mines and else- 
where. At times the levee was filled throughout its whole length 
by their teams, three or four yoke of oxen to every wagon. The 
beasts had an expression of patient experience which plainly showed 
that no roads yet to be traveled would astonish them in the least. 
After tugging the wagons for six months over the salt deserts of 
the G-reat Basin, climbing passes and canons of terrible asperity in 
the Sierra Nevada, and learninfj: to digest oak bark on the arid 
plains around the sink of Humboldt's River, it seemed as if no 
extremity could henceforth intimidate them. Much toil and suf- 
fering had given to their countenances a look of almost human 
wisdom. If their souls should hereafter, according to the theory 
of some modern philosophers, reappear in human frames, what a 
crowd of grave and reverend sages may not California be able to 
produce ! The cows had been yoked in with the oxen and made 
to do equal duty. The women who had come by the overland 
route appeared to have stood the hardships of the journey remark- 
ably well, and were not half so loud as the men in their complaints 
The amount of gambling in Sacramento City was very great, 
and the enticement of music was employed even jto a greater ex- 
tent than in San Francisco. All kinds of instruments and tunes 
made night discordant, for which harrowing service the performers 
were paid an ounce each. Among the many drinking houses, 
there was one called " The Plains," which was much frequented 
by the emigrants. Some western artist, who came across the 
country, adorned its walls with scenic illustrations of the ^oute, 
Buch as Independence Rock, The Sweet-Water Valley, Fort Lara- 
mie, Wind River Mountains, etc. There was one of a pass in the 
Sierra Nevada, on the Carson River route. A wagon and team 



224 ELDORADO. 

were represented as coming down the side of a hill so nearly per- 
pendicular that it seemed no earthly power could prevent them 
from making but a single fall from the summit to the valley 
These particular oxen, however, were happily independent of gravi- 
tation, and whisked their tails in the face of the zenith, as they 
marched slowly down. 

I was indebted for quarters in Sacramento City, to Mr. De 
Grraw, who was installed in a frame house, copper-roofed, fronting 
the levee. I slept very comfortably on, a pile of Chinese quilts, 
behind the counter, lulled by the dashing of the rain against the 
sides of the house. The rainy season had set in, to all appear- 
ances, though it was full a month before the usual time. The 
sky was bleak and gray, and the wind blew steadily from thy 
south, an unfailing sign to the old residents. The saying of the 
Mexicans seemed to be verified, that, wherever los Yankis go, 
they take rain with them. 

It was therefore the more necessary that I should start at once 
for the mountains. In a few weeks the roads would be impassa- 
ble, and my only chance of seeing the northern rivers be cut ofi". 
The first requisite for the journey was a good horse, to procure 
which I first attended the horse-market which was daily held to- 
wards the bottom of K street. This was one of the principal sights 
in the place, and as picturesque a thing as could be seen anywhere. 
The trees were here thicker and of larger growth than in 
other parts of the city ; the market-ground in the middle of the 
street was shaded by an immense evergreen oak, and surrounded 
by tents of blue and white canvas. One side was flanked by a 
livery-stable — an open frame of poles, roofed with dry tula, in 
which stood a few shivering mules and raw-boned horses, while the 
stacks of hay and wheat straw, on the open lots in the vicinity, 



SIGHTS AT THE HORSE MARKET. 225 

offered feed to the buyers of animals, at the rate of $3 daily for 
each head. 

When the market was in full blast, the scene it presented was 
grotesque enough. There were no regulations other than the 
fancy of those who had animals to sell ; every man was his own 
auctioneer, and showed off the points of his horses or mules. The 
ground was usually occupied by several persons at once, — a rough 
tawny-faced, long-bearded Missourian, with a couple of pack 
mules which had been starved in the Great Basin ; a quondam 
New York dandy with a horse whose back he had ruined in his 
luckless " prospecting" among the mountains ; a hard-fisted far- 
mer with the wagon and ox-team which had brought his family 
and household gods across the continent ; or, perhaps, a jock} 
trader, who understood all the arts of depreciation and recom- 
mendation, and invariably sold an animal for much more than he 
gave. The bids were slow, and the seller would sometimes hang 
for half an hour without an advance ; in fact, where three or four 
were up at once, it required close attention in the buyer to know 
which way the competition was running. 

I saw a lean sorrel mule sold for $55 j several others, of that 
glossy black color and clean make which denote spirit and endu- 
rance, were held at $140, the owner refusing to let them go for 
less. The owner of a bay horse, which he rode up and down the 
market at a brisk pace, could get no bid above $45. As the ani- 
mal was well made and in good condition, I was about to bid, 
when I noticed a neculiar glare of the eye which betrayed suffer 
ing of some kind " What kind of a back has he .?" I inquired 
^' It is a very little scratched on the top," was the answer ; " but 
be is none the worse for that." " He'll not do for me," I thought, 
but I watched the other bidders to see how the buyer would be 
10* 



226 ELDORADO. 

Batisfied with his purchase. The horse was finally krocked off at 
$50 : as the saddle was not included the new owner removed it, 
disclosing a horrible patch of raw and shrinking flesh. An alter- 
cation instantly arose, which was not settled when I left to seek a 
horse elsewhere. 

The owner of a stack of hay near at hand desired to sell me a 
mule out of a number which he had in charge. But one which 
he recommended as a fine saddle-mule would not go at all, though 
he wounded her mouth with the cruel bit of the country in the 
effort to force her into a trot ; another, which was declared to be 
remarkably gentle, stumbled and fell with me, and a third, which 
seemed to be really a good traveler, was held at a price I did no+ 
desire to pay. At last, the proprietor of a sort of tavern adjoin 
ing the market, offered to sell me a gray mare for $100. Now, as 
the gray mare is said to be the better horse, and as, on trial, I 
found her to possess a steady and easy gait, though a little lazy, I 
determined to take her, since, among so many worn-out and used- 
up animals, it seemed a matter of mere luck whether I would 
have selected a good one. The mare was American, but the 
owner assured me she had been long enough in the country, to travel 
unshod and keep fat on dry grass. As saddles, blankets, and other 
articles were still necessary, my outfit was rather expensive. I pro- 
cured a tolerable saddle and bridlte for $10 ; a lariat and saddle- 
blanket for $5 ; a pair of sharp Mexican spurs for $8, and blankcta 
for $12. With a hunting-knife, a pair of pistols in my pocket, a 
compass, thermometer, note-book and pencil, I was prepared for 
a tour of any length among the mountains. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

TRAVELING ON THE PLAINS. 

I WAITED another day for the rain to subside, but the wind still 
blew up the river and the sky remained hopelessly murk and 
lowering. I therefore buttoned up my corduroy coat, thrust my 
head through the centre of my sarape, and set out in the teeth of 
the gale. Leaving the muddy streets, swamped tents and shiver- 
ing population of Sacramento City, a ride of a mile and a half 
brou^t me to Sutter's Fort, built on a slight rise in the plain. 
It is a large quadrangular structure, with thick adobe walls, and 
square bastions at each corner. Everything about it showed signs 
of dilapidation and decay. The corrals of earth had been trampled 
down ; doors and gateways were broken through the walls, and all 
kinds of building materials carried away. A two story wooden 
building, with flag-staff bearing the American colors, stood in the 
centre of the court-yard, and low ranges of buildings around the 
Bides were variously occupied as hospitals, stores, drinking and 
gaming shops and dwellings. The hospital, under the charge of 
Drs. Deal and Martin, was said to be the best regulated in the 
district. It was at the time filled with fever patients, who re- 
ceived nursing and medical attendance for $100 per week. 

Behind the fort, at the distance of quarter of a mile, flows the 



228 ELDORADO. 

Rio Americano, with several fine grazing ranches on its banks 
The view on all sides is over a level plain, streaked with lines of 
timber, and bounded on the east and west, in clear weather, by the 
distant ranges of the Coast Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. 
Three or four houses have sprung up on the low ground in front 
of the fort during the summer. Riding up to a large unfinished 
frame building to make inquiries about the road, I was answered 
by a man whom I afterwards learned was the notorious Keysburg 
the same who came out with the emigration of 1846, and lived all 
winter among the mountains on the dead bodies of his companions 
He was of a stout, large frame, with an exceedingly coarse, sen- 
sual expression of countenance, and even had I not heard his 
revolting history, I should have marked his as a wholly animal 
face. It remains in my memory now like that of an ogre, and I 
only remember it with a shudder. One of those who went out to 
the Camp of Death, after the snows were melted, described to me 
the horrid circumstances under which they found him — seated 
like a ghoul, in the midst of dead bodies, with his face and hands 
smeared with blood, and a kettle of human flesh boiling over the 
fire. He had become a creature too foul and devilish for this 
earth, and the forbearance with which the men whose children he 
had devoured while they were toiling back to his succor through 
almost fathomless snows, refrained from putting him to death, is 
to be wondered at. He had not the plea of necessity in the use 
of this revolting food ; for the body of an ox, wnich had been 
thawed out of the snow, was found untouched near his cabm. 
lie spoke with a sort of fiendish satisfaction, of the meals 
he had made, and the men were obliged to drag him away 
from them by main force, not without the terrible convic- 
tion that some of the victims had been put to a violent death 



NIGHT, RAIN AND A RANCHE. 229 

to glut his appetite. There is no creation in the whole lange of 
fiction, so dark and awful in its character, as this man. • 

After passing the first belt of timber, I was alone on the plains, 
which looked strikingly' bleak and desolate under the dark and 
rainy sky. The road was filled with pools of mud and water, by 
which, when night came down on the changeless waste, I was 
enabled to find my way. The rain set in again, adding greatly to 
■ the discomfort of such travel. My gray mare, too, lagged more 
than I liked, and I began to calculate my chances of remaining 
all night on the plain. . About two hom-s after dark, however, a 
faint light glimmered in the distance, and I finally reached the 
place of my destination — Murphy's Ranche on the Cosumne 
River. An Indian boy tied my horse to a haystack, and Mrs. 
Murphy set about baking some biscuit in a pan, and roasting a 
piece of beef for me on a wooden spit. A company of gold-dig- 
gers, on their way from the Yuba to winter on the Mariposa, had 
possession of one end of the house, where they lay rolled in their 
blankets, their forms barely discernible through the smoke sent 
out by the rain-soaked wood of which their fire was made. T 
talked an .hour with them about the prospects of mining on the 
difierent rivers, and then lay down to sleep on the clay floor. 

The next morning the sky was as thick, heavy and gray as a 
Mackinaw blanket, with a precocious drizzle, betokening a storm. 
Nevertheless, I saddled and started for Hick's Ranche, a day's 
journey distant, in the edge of the mountains. I forded the 
Cosumne River, (almost universally pronounced Mokosume\) at 
this place a clear, swift stream, bordered by dense thickets. It 
was akeady up to my saddle-skirts, and rapidly rising. Two or 
three tule huts stood on the opposite bank, and a number of dirty, 
stupid Indian faces stared at me through the apertures. Taking 



230 ELDORADO. 

a dim wagon-trail, according to directions, I struck out once more 
on the open plains. The travel was very toilsome, my horse'f 
feet sinking deeply into the wet, soft soil. The further I went 
the worse it became. After making five miles, I reached some 
scattering oak timber, where I was forced to take shelter from the 
rain, which now beat down drenchingly. Cold and wet, I waited 
two hours in that dismal solitude for the flood to cease, and taking 
advantage of the first lull, turned about and rode back to the 
ranche. All that night it rained hard, and the second morning 
opened with a prospect more dreary than ever. 

My companions in that adobe limbo were the miners, who had 
been spending the Summer on the upper bars of the Yuba, xic- 
cording to their accounts, the average yield of the Yuba diggings 
was near two ounces for each man. Those who had taken out 
claims of eight paces square in the beginning of the season, fre-^ 
quently made $10,000 and upwards. Owing to the severity of 
the Winter in that region, the greater portion o the miners were 
moving southward until the Spring. Several companies came up 
in the course of the day, but as the ranche was full, they were 
constrained to pitch their tents along the banks of the swollen 
Cosumne. Mr. Murphy, I found, was the son of the old gentleman 
whose hospitalities I had shared in the valley of San Jose. He 
had been living three years on the river, and his three sturdy young 
sons could ride and throw the lariat equal to any Californian. 
There were two or three Indian boys belonging to the house, one 
of whom, a solid, shock-headed urchin, as grave as if he was born 
to be a " medicine-man," did all the household duties with great 
precision and steadiness. He was called " Billy," and though 
he understood English as well as his own language, I never heard 
him speak. My only relief, during the wearisome detention, was 



THE NEVADA AT SUxVSET. 231 

in watchmg his deliberate motions, and wondering what thoughts, 
or whether any thoughts stirred under his immoveable face. 

The afternoon of the second day the clouds lifted, and we saw 
the entire line of the Sierra Nevada, white and cold against the 
background of the receding storm. As the sun broke forth, near 
its setting, peak after peak became visible, far away to north 
and south, till the ridge of eternal snow was unbroken for at least 
a hundred and fifty miles. The peaks around the head-waters of the 
American Fork, highest of all, were directly in front. The pure 
white of their sides became gradually imbued with a rosy flame, 
and their cones and pinnacles burned like points of fire. In<rthe 
last glow of the sun, long after it had set to us, the splendor ol 
the whole range, deepening from gold to rose, from rose to crim- 
son, and fading at last into an ashy violet, surpassed even the 
famous " Alp-glow," as I have seen it from the plains of Pied- 
mont. 

An old hunter living on the ranche came galloping up, with a 
fat, black-tailed doe at the end of his lariat. He had first broken 
the hind leg of the poor beast with a ball, and then caught her 
running. The pleading expression of her large black eyes was 
almost human, but her captor coolly drew his knife across her 
throat, and left her to bleed to death. She lay on the ground, 
uttering a piteous bleat as her panting became thick and difficult, 
but not until the last agony was wholly over, did the dull film steal 
across the beauty of her lustrous eyes. 

On the third morning I succeeded in leaving the ranche, where 
I had been very hospitably entertained at four dollars a day for 
myself and horse. The Cosumne was very much swollen by the 
rains, but my gray mare swam bravely, and took me across with 
but a slight wetting. I passed my previous halting-place, and wa? 



232 ELDORADO. 

advancing with difficulty through the mud of the plains, when, on 
climbing a small " rise," I suddenly found myself confronted by 
four grizzly bears — two of them half-grown ctibs — who had posses- 
sion of a grassy bottom on the other side. They were not more 
than two hundred yards distant. I halted and looked at them, 
and they at me, and I must say they seemed the most unconcerned 
of the two parties. My pistols would kill nothing bigger than a 
coyote, and they could easily have outrun my horse ; so I went 
my way, keeping an eye on the most convenient tree. In case of 
an attack, the choice of a place of refuge would have been a deli- 
cate matter, since the bears can climb up a large tree and gnaw 
down a small one. It required some skill, therefore, in selecting 
a trunk of proper size. At Murphy's, the night previous, they 
told me there had been plenty of " bear-sign" along the river, and 
in the " pockets" of solid ground among the tule. As the rainjf 
season sets in they always come down from the mountains. 

After traveling eight or ten miles the wagon trails began to 
scatter, and with my imperfect knowledge of prairie hieroglyphicSj. 
T was soon at fault. The sky was by this time clear and bright ; 
and rather than puzzle myself with wheel-tracks leading every- 
where, and cattle-tracks leading nowhere, I guessed at the location 
of the ranche to which I was bound and took a bee-line towards it. 

The knowledge of tracks and marks is a very important part of 
the education of a woodsman. It is only obtained by unlearning^ 
or forgetting for the time, all one's civilized acquirements and re- 
calling the original instincts of the animal. An observing man, 
fresh from the city, might with some study determine the character 
of a track, but it is the habit of observing them rather than the 
discriminating faculty, which enables the genuine hunter to perusa 
the earth like a volume, and confidently pronounce on the nuiubei 



PRAIRIE AND WOOD CRAFT. 233 

and character of all the animals and men that have lately passed 
over its surface. Where an inexperienced eye could discern no 
mark, he will note a hundred trails, and follow any particular one 
through the maze, with a faculty of sight as unerring as the power 
of scent in a dog. I was necessitated, during my journey in the 
interior of California, to pay some attention to this craft, but I 
never got beyond the rudiments. 

Another necessary faculty, as I had constant occasion to notice, 
is that of observino; and rememberins the form, color and character 
of animals. This may seem a simple thing ; but let any one, at 
the close of a ride in the country, endeavor to describe all the 
horses, mules and oxen he has seen, and he will find himself at fault. 
A Californian will remember and give a particular description of a 
hundred animals, which he has passed in a day's journey, and be 
able to recognize and identify any one of them. Horses and mules 
are to him what men, newspapers, books and machinery are to us ; 
they are the only science he need know or learn. The habit of 
noticing them is easily acquired, and is extremely useful in a 
country where there are neither pounds nor fences. 

The heavy canopy of clouds was lifted from the plain almost as 
suddenly as the cover from a mast turkey at a hotel dinner, when 
the head waiter has given the wink. The snows of the Nevada 
shone whits along the clear horizon ; I could see for many a league 
on every side, but I was alone on the broad, warm landscape. 
Over wastes of loose, gravelly soil, into which my horse sank above 
the fetlocks — across barren ridges, alternating with marshy hollows 
and pools of water, T toiled for hours, and noar sunset reached the 
first low, timbered hills on the margin of the plain. I dismounted 
and led my weary horse for a mile or two, but as it grew dark, 
was obliged to halt in a little glen — a most bear-ish looking place, 



234 ELDORADO. 

filled with thick chapparal. A fallen tree supplied me with fuel 
to hand, and I soon had a glowing fire, beside which I spread my 
blankets and lay down. Getting up at midnight to throw on more 
logs, I found my horse gono, and searched the chapparal for an 
hour, wondering how I should fare, trudging along on foot, with 
the saddle on my shonlders. At last I found her in a distant part 
of the wood, with the lariat wound around a tree. After this I 
filept no more, but lay gazing on the flickering camp-fire, and her 
gray figure as she moved about in the dusk. Towards dawn the 
tinkle of a distant mule-bell and afterwards the crowing of a cock 
gave me welcome signs.of near habitation ; and* saddling with the 
first streak of light, I pushed on, still in the same direction, through 
a thick patch of thorny chapparal, and finally reached the brow of 
a wooded ridge just as the sun was rising. 

Oh, the cool, fresh beauty of that morning ! The sky was 
deliciously pure and soft, and the tips of the pines on the hills 
were kindled with a rosy flame from the new-risen sun. Below 
me lay a beautiful valley, across which ran a line of tnnber, be- 
traying, by its luxuriance, the water-course it shaded. The 
reaches of meadow between were green and sparkling with dew ; 
here and there, among the luxuriant foliage, peeped the white top 
of a tent, or rose the pale-blue threads of smoke from freshly- 
kindled camp-fires. Cattle were grazing in places, and the tinkle 
of the bell I had heard sounded a blithe welcome from one of the 
groups, l^eyond the tents, in the skirts of a splendid clump of 
trees stood the very ranche to which I was bound. 

I rode up and asked for breakfast. My twenty-four hours' fast 
was broken by a huge slice of roast venison, and cofiee sweetened 
with black Mexican sugar, which smacks not only of the juice of 
the rane, but of the leaves, joints, roots, and even the unctuous 



AAIONG THE HILLS. 230 

soil in which it grows. For this I paid a dollar and a half, but no 
money could procure any feed for my famishing horse. Leaving 
the ranche, which is owned by a settler named Hicks, my road led 
along the left bank of Sutter's Creek for two miles, after which it 
struck into the mountains. Here and there, in the gulches, I 
noticed signs of the gold-hunters, but their prospecting did not 
appear to have been successful. The timber was principally pine 
and oak, and of the smaller growths, the red-barked madi'ono and 
a species of esculitSy with a fruit much larger than our Western 
buckeye. The hills are steep, broken and with little apparent 
system. A close observation, however, shows them to have a 
gradual increase of elevation, to a certain point, beyond which 
they fall again. As in the sea the motion of the long swells is 
seen through all the small waves of the surface, so this broken 
region shows a succession of parallel ridges, regularly increasing 
in height till they reach the Sierra Nevada — the " tenth wave," 
with the white foam on its crest. 

About noon, I came down again upoh Sutter's Creek in a little 
valley, settled by miners. A number of tents were pitched along 
the stream, and some log houses for the winter were in process of 
erection. The diggings in the valley were quite profitable during 
the dry season, especially in a canon above. At the time I passed, 
the miners were making from half an ounce to an ounce per day. 
I procured a very good dinner at Humphrey's tent, and attempted 
to feed my famishing gray with Indian meal at half a dollar the 
pound ; but, starving as she was, she refused to eat it. Her pace 
had by this time dwindled to a very slow walk, and I could not 
find it in my heart to use the spur. Leaving the place immedi- 
ately after dinner, I crossed a broad mountain, and descended tc 
Jackson's Creek, where a still greater number of miners were 



236 ELDORADO. 

congregated. Not tli3 Creek only, but all the ravines in the 
mountains around, fuiiiisli-d ground for their winter labors A 
little knoll in the valley, above the reach of floods, was tntirely 
covered with their wlute tents. The hotel tent was kept by an 
Oregonian named Cosgrove, and there was in addition a French 
restaurant. 

From Jackson's Creek I took a footpath to the Mokelumne. 
After scaling the divide, I went down into a deep, wild ravine, 
where the path, notched along its almost perpendicular sides, 
threatened to give way beneath my horse's feet. Further down, 
the bottom was completely turned over' by miners, a number of 
whom were building their log cabins. The rains had brought at 
last a constant supply of water, and pans and cradles were in full 
operation among the gravel ; the miners were nearly all French 
men, and appeared to be doing well. The ravine ^naWj debouc/ied 
upon the river at the Middle Bar. I found the current deep and 
swollen by the rains, which had broken away all the dams made for 
turning it. The old brush town was nearly deserted, and very few 
persons were at work on the river banks, the high water having 
driven all into the gulches, which continued to yield as much as 
over. 

I forded the river with some difficulty, owing to the deep holes 
quarried in its channel, which sometimes plunged my horse down 
to the neck. On turning the point of a mountain a mile below, 
I came again in sight of the Lower Bar, and recognized the fea- 
tures of a scene which had become so familiar during my visit in 
xiugust. The town was greatly changed. As I rode up the hill, 
I found the summer huts of the Sonorians deserted and the in- 
habitants gone ; Baptiste's airy hotel, with its monte and dinin/z 
tables, which had done us service as beds, was not to be found 



A KNOT OF POLITICIANS 



231 



I feared that all of my friends were gone, and I had made the 
journey in vain. The place was fast beginning to wear a look of 
desolation, when as I passed one of the tents, I was hailed by a 
rough-looking fellow dressed in a red flannel shirt and striped 
jacket. Who should it be but Dr. Gillette, the sharer of my gro 
tesque ride to Stockton in the summer. After the first salutations 
were over, he conducted me to Mr. James' tent, where I found 
my old comrade, Col. Lyons, about sitting down to a smoking 
dinner of beef, venison and tortillas.- Dr. Grwin, one of the candi- 
dates for U. 'S. Senator, had just arrived, and was likewise the 
guest of Mr. James. I joined him in doing execution at the 
table, with the more satisfaction, because my poor mare had about 
a quart of corn — the last to be had in the place — for her supper. 
After dinner, Mr. Morse, of New Orleans, candidate for Con- 
gress, and Mr. Brooks, of New York, for the Assembly, made 
their appearance. "We had a rare knot of politicians. Col. 
Lyons was a pi-omment candidate for the State Senate, and we 
Duly lacked the genial presence of Co]. Steuart, and the jolly one 
of Capt. McDougal (who were not far off, somewhere in the dig- 
gings,) to have had all the offices represented, from the Grovernor 
downwards. After dinner, we let down the curtains of the little 
tent, stretched ourselves out on the blankets, lighted our cigars 
and went plump into a discussion of California politics. Each of 
the candidates had his bundle of tickets, his copies of the Consti- 
tution and his particular plans of action. As it happened there 
were no two candidates for the same office present, the discussion 
was carried on in perfect harmony and with a feeling of good-fel- 
lowship withal. Whatever the politics of the different aspirants, 
they were, socially, most companionable men. We will not dis- 
close ihe mysteries of the conclave, but simply re:iiark that everj 



238 ^ ELDORADO. 

one slept as soundly on his hard bed as though he were dreaming 
of a triumphant election. 

The flood in the river, I found, had proved most disastrous to 
the operations on the bar. Mr. James' company, which, after 
immense labor and expense, had turned the channel for three 
hundred yards, and was just beginning to realize a rich profit from 
the river-bed, was suddenly stopped. The last day's washing 
amounted to $1,700, and the richest portion of the bed was yet 
to be washed. The entire expense of the undertaking, which 
required the labor of forty men for nearly two months, was more 
than twenty thousand dollars, not more than half of which had 
been realized. All further work was suspended until the next 
summer, when the returns would probably make full amends for 
the delay and disappointment. The rich gulch was filled with 
miners, most of whom were doing an excellent business. The 
strata of white quartz crossing the mountains about half way ud 
the gulch, had been tried, and found to contain rich veins of gold 
A company of about twelve had commenced sinking a shaft to 
strike it at right angles. In fact, the metal had increased, rather 
than diminished in quantity, since my former visit. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

JOURNEY TO THE VOLCANO. 

My first care in the morning was to procure forage for my mare. 
The effects of famine were beo-innino; to show themselves in hef 
appearance. She stood dejectedly beside the pine stump to which 
she was tethered, now and then gnawing a piece of the bark to 
satisfy the cravings of her stomach. Her flanks were thin and 
her sides hollow, and she looked so wistfully at me with her dull, 
sunken eyes, that I set out at once in the endeavor to procure 
something better than pine-bark for hei- breakfast. The only 
thing I could find in all the village was bread, five small rolls of 
which I bought at half a dollar apiece, and had the satisfaction 
of seeing her greedily devour them. This feed, however, was far 
too expensive, and rather than see her starve outright, I gave her 
to Gen. Morse, for the ride back to Sacramento City, his own 
horse having broken loose during the night. The grass, which 
had already begun to sprout, was not more than quarter of an 
inch in height, and afforded no sustenance to cattle. I therefore 
reluctantly decided to shorten my journey, and perform the 
remainder of it on foot. 

The same night of my arrival on the river, I heard many storiea 
about " The Volcano" — a place some twenty miles further into 



240 ELDORADO. 

the heart of the mountains, where, it was said, a very rich de- 
posit of gold had been found, near the mouth of an extinct crater. 
I made due allowance for the size which gold lumps attain, the 
farther they roll, but a curiosity to see some of the volcanic ap- 
pearances which are said to become frequent as you approach the 
snowy ridge, induced me to start in the morning after having seen 
my horse's head turned again towards the region of hay. 

Dr. Gillette .kindly offered to accompany me on the trip — an 
offer the more welcome, on account of the additional security it 
gave me against hostile Indians. The entire mountain district, 
above the Upper Bar (about four miles from the Lower Bar) — 
and" particularly at the Forks of the Mokelumne — ^was overrun 
with Indians, some of whom were of the tribe of the old chief, 
Polo, and others of a tribe lately made hostile to the Americans 
by an affray at the Volcano. Polo, it was rumored had been 
shot; but I gave no credit to the report. He was much too 
cautious and cunning, to be entrapped. To the miners about 
that region, he was as much of a will-o'-the-wisp as Abdel- 
Kader was to the French. ^lore than once he visited the dig- 
gings in disguise, and no small company, prospecting above the 
Forks, was safe from having a. brush with his braves. 

We took care to provide ourselves with a good double-barreled 
rifle before starting. Our route lay up the river to the Middle 
Bar. Climbing the mountain behind that place, we took a line 
for the Butte, a lofty, isolated peak, which serves as a landmark 
for the country between the Cosumne and the Mokelumne. De- 
Bcending through wild, wooded ravines, we struck an Indian trail, 
with fresh tracks upon it. The thick chapparal, here and there, 
made us think of ambuscades, and we traveled more cautiously and 
silently than was actually needful In the deep nooks and re- 



THE FOREST TRAIL. 24l 

cesses of the mountains we noticed ruined huts and the ashes of 
deserted camp-fires. The gulches in all directions had been dug 
up by gold-hunters during the summer. One, in particular, at 
the foot of the Butte, showed — as we ascended it, for more than a 
mile — scarcely a foot of soil untouched. The amount of gold ob- 
tained from it must have been very great. The traces of these 
operation*, deep in the wilderness, accounted for the fact of miners 
becoming suddenly rich, after disappearing from the Bars for a 
few days. 

We climbed to the level of the mountain region, out of which 
the Butte towered a thousand feet above us. Our tuail led east- 
ward from its foot, towards the Sierra Nevada, whose shining sum- 
mits seemed close at hand. The hills were dotted with forests of 
pine and oak, many specimens of the former tree rising to the 
height of two hundred and fifty feet. The cones, of a dark red 
color, were fully eighteen inches in length. The madrono, which 
rises to a stately tree in the mountains near Monterey, was here a 
rough shrub, looking, with its blood-red arms and lifeless foliage, 
as if it had been planted over a murderer's grave. The ground, in 
the sheltered hollows, was covered with large acorns, very littlo 
inferior to chesnuts in taste ; the deer and bear become very fat 
at this season, from feeding upon them. They form the principal 
subsistence of the Indian tribes during the winter. In one of the 
ravines we found an " Indian wind-mill," as the miners call it — fi 
flat rock, with half a dozen circular holes on its surface, beside 
each of which lay a round stone, used in pulverizing the acorns. 
"We passed one or two inhabited camps a short distance from the 
trail, but were apparently unobserved. Further on. in the forest, 
we came suddenly upon two young Indians, who were goinaj on a 
tiail Ir^ading towards the Forks. Thoy started at first to run, but 

VOL. I. 11 



242 ELDORADO. 

stopped when we hailed them ; they understood neither English 
nor Spanish, but some tobacco which the doctor gave them wap 
very joyfully received. 

The stillness and beauty of the shaded glens through which we 
traveled were very impressive. Threaded by clear streams which 
turned the unsightly holes left by the miners into pools of crystal, 
mirroring the boughs far above, their fresh, cool aspect was very 
different from the glowing furnaces they form in summer. Tho 
foliage was still very little changed ; only the leaves of the buck- 
eye had fallen, and its polished nuls filled the paths. The ash was 
turned to a blazing gold, and made a perpetual sunset in the woods 
But the oak here wore an evergreen livery'; the grass was already 
shooting up over all the soil, and the Winter at hand was so decked 
in the mixed trappings of Summer Autumn and Spring, that we 
hardly recognized him. 

Late in the afternoon we accidentally 'took a side trail, which 
led up a narrow ravine and finally brought us to an open space 
among the hills, where a company of prospecters were engaged in 
pitching their tent for the winter. They were seven in number, 
mostly sailors, and under the command of a Virginian named 
Woodhouse. Their pack-mules had just arrived* with supplies 
from their former camp, and a half-naked Indian was trying to 
get some flour. On learning the scarcity of the article on the 
river, they refused to sell him any. He importuned them some 
time, but in vain : " Very well," said he, " you shall be driven 
off to-morrow," and went away. We were very hungry, and em^ 
ployed the cook of the company to get us something to eat. He 
built a fire, fried some salt pork, and made us a dish of pancakes. 
[ could not help admiring the dexterity with which he tossed the 
cake in the air and caught it on the othor side as it came down 



CAMPING IN A STORM. 243 

into the pan. "We ate with an animal voracity, for the usual 
Culifornia appetite — equal to that of three men at home — ^was 
sharpened by our long walk. 

It was now beginning to grow dark, and a rain coming on. We 
were seven miles from the Volcano, and would have preferred re- 
maining for the night, had the miners given any encouragement 
to our hints on the subject. Instead of this, it seemed to us that 
they were suspicious of our being spies upon their prospecting, so 
we left them and again plunged into the forest. Regaining the 
proper trail we went at a rapid rate through gloomy ravines, which 
were canopied by thick mist. It grew darker, and the rain began 
to fall. We pushed on in silence, hoping to reach some place of 
shelter, but the trail became more and more indistinct, till at last 
we kept it with our feet rather than our eyes. I think we must 
have walked in it a mile after we ceased entirely to see it. Onco 
or twice we heard yells in the distance, which we took to be thost 
of a party of the hostile Indians. The air grew pitchy dark, and 
the rain fell so fast, that we lost the trail and determined to stop 
for the night. We had just crossed a sort of divide, and our posi- 
tion, as near as we could tell in the gloom, was at the entrance of 
a deep ravine, entirely covered with forests, and therefore a toler- 
ably secure covert. I had two or three matches in my pocket, 
from which we struck a flame, at the foot of a pine tree. We fed 
it daintily at first with the dry needles and filaments of bark, till it 
grew strong enough and hungry enough to dry its own fuel. 
Swinging with our whole weight to the ends of the boughs, we 
snapped ofi" sufficient to last for the night, and then lay down on 
the dark side of the tree, with our arms between us to keep them 
dry. The cold, incessant rain, pouring down through the boughs, 
soon drenched us quite, and we crawled around to the other side 



244 ELDORADO. 

The Indians, like Death, love a shining mark ; and the thought of 
an arrow sent out of the gloom around us, made our backs feel un- 
comfortable as we stood before the fire. Lying in the rain, how- 
ever, without blankets, was equally unpleasant ; so we took alter 
nate half-hours of soaking and drying. 

Salt pork and exercise combined, gave us an intolerable thirst, 
to allay which we made torches of cedar bark and went down to 
the bottom of the ravine for water. There was none to be found ; 
and we were about giving up the search when we came to a young 
pine, whose myriad needles were bent down with their burden of 
rain-drops. No nectar was ever half so delicious. We caught 
the twigs in our mouths and drained them dry, then cut down the 
tree and carried it back in triumph to our fire, where we planted 
it and let the rain fill up its aromatic beakers. The night seemed 
interminable. The sound of the rain was like stealthy footsteps 
on the leaves ; the howling of wolves and the roar of water-falls at 
a distance, startled us. Occasionally, the tread of some animal 
among the trees — possibly a deer, attracted by the flame — put aU 
our senses on the alert. Just before daybreak the storm ceased, 
and in ten minutes afterwards the sky was without a cloud. 

The morning broke brightly and cheeringly. We resumed the 
path, which led into a grassy meadow about a mile long, at the 
further end of which we struck a wagon trail. A saucy wolf came 
down to the edge of the woods, and barked at us most imperti- 
nently, but we did not think him worth the powder. The air was 
fragrant with the smell of cedar — a species of the thuya — which 
here grows to the height of two hundred feet. Its boles are per- 
fectly straight and symmetrical, and may be split with the axe 
into boards and shingles. Many of the trees had been felled for 
this purpose, and lay by the roadside. From the top of a little 



THE VOLCANIC COMMUNITY. . 245^ 

ridge we looked down into the valley of the Volcano, and could see 
the smoke rismg from the tents. The encampment is in a deep 
basin, surrounded by volcanic hills, several of which contain ex- 
tmct craters. A small stream flows through the midst. The 
tents and cabins of the miners are on the lower slopes of the hills, 
and the diggings are partly in the basin and partly in gulches which 
branch off from its northern side. The location is very beautiful, 
and more healthy than the large rivers. 

Descending into the valley, we stopped at a tent for breakfast, 
which was got ready by the only female in the "settlement — a wo- 
man from Pennsylvania, whose husband died on the journey out. 
A number of the miners were from the same place. Maj. Bart- 
lett of Louisiana, with his company, were also at work there ; and 
in another valley, beyond the woodc^. ridge to the north-east, Capt. 
Jones of Illinois was located, with a company of about sixty men. 
The whole number of persons at this digging was nearly one hun- 
dred and fifty, and they had elected an Alcalde and adopted laws 
for their government. The supplies on hand were very scanty, 
but they had more on the way, which the first favorable weather 
would enable them to receive. 

In addition to my motives of curiosity, in visiting the Volcano^ 
I was empowered with a political mission to the diggers. The 
candidates on the Mokelumne gave me letters to some of them, 
and packages of tickets which I was enjoined to commend to their 
use. On delivering the letters, I found I.was considered as having 
authority to order an election — a power which was vested only in 
the Prefect of the District or his special agents. At the sugges- 
tion of some of the miners I went with them to the Alcalde, in 
order to have a consultation. I disclaimed all authority in the 
matter, but explained to them the mode in which the elections 



246 ELDORADO. 

were to be held on the river, and recommended them to adopt a 
similar action. Owing to the short time which elapsed between 
the Governor's proclamation and the day of election, it was im- 
possible for the Prefect of each district to notify all the organized 
communities. The only plad, therefore, was to meet on the ap- 
pointed day, publicly elect Judges and Inspectors, and hold the 
election in all other respects according to the requirements of the 
Constitution. This was agreed to by the law-givers of the Volcano 
as the most advisable mode of action. But behold how easy it 
is, in a primitive community like this, to obtain the popular favor ! 
There was, on one of the tickets in the San Joaquin district, a 
candidate for the State Senate, whose surname was the same as 
mine, and the Volcanics, as I afterwards learned, took me to be 
the same individual. " We svill vote for »hun," said they, " be- 
cause he came here to see us, and because he appears to under- 
stand the law." Accordingly, the whole vote of the place was 
given to my namesake, but intended for me. Had I known this 
fact sooner, I might have been tempted to run for Alcalde, at least. 
Major Bartlett went with us to examine the diggings. The al- 
luvial soil of the basin contains little gold, but has been dug up 
very extensively by the miners, in search of the clay stratum ; 
beside which the gold is found in coarse grains, mixed with sand 
and gravel. There is, however, no regularity in the stratum ; 
everything bears marks of violent change and disruption. In 
holes dug side by side, I noticed that the clay would be reached 
eighteen inches below the surface in one, and perhaps eight feet 
in the other. This makes the digging something of a lottery, 
those who find a deposit always finding a rich one, and those who 
find none making nothing at all. In the gulches the yield is more 
«ertain. A Me'xican had lately taken twenty-eight pounds out of 



APPEARANCE OF THE EXTINCT CRATERS. 247 

*. 

a single *' pocket ;" another miner, having struck a rich spot- 
dug $8,000 in a few days. Many made three, four and five 
ounces daily for several days. In the upper valley the average 
was about an ounce a day. From my hasty examination of the 
place, I should not think the gold was thrown up by the craters 
in a melted state, as the miners imagine. The fact of its being 
found with the layer of clay would refute this idea. From the 
strata, water-courses, and other indications, it is nevertheless evi- 
dent that large slides from the hills, occasioned by earthquakes or 
eruptions, have taken place. 

I climbed the hills and visited two of the craters, neither of 
which appeared to be the main opening of the volcano. On the 
contrary, I should rather judge them to be vents or escape-holes 
for the confined flame, formed in the sides of the mountain. The 
rocks, by upheaval, are thrown into irregular cones, and show 
everywhere the marks of intense heat. Large seams, blackened 
by the subterranean fire, run through them, and in the highest 
parts are round, smooth holes, a foot in diameter, to some of which 
no bottom can be found. These are evidently the last flues 
through which the air and flame made their way, as the surface 
hardened over the cooling volcano. The Indian traditions go back 
to the time when these craters were active, but their chronology is 
totally indefinite, and I am not geologist enough to venture an 
opinion. Pines at least a century old, are now growing on the rim 
of the craters. Further up the mountain, the miners informed 
me, there are large beds of lava, surrounding craters of still larger 
dimensions. 

We took dinner at Major Bartlett's tent, and started on our 
return accompanied by Dr. Carpentier, of Saratoga, N. Y. Be- 
fore leaving, I took pains to learn tho particulars of the receU 



248 ELDORADO 

fight 'with the Indians at the Yolcano. The latter, it seems, first 
discovered the placer, and were digging when the whites arrived. 
They made room for them at once, and proposed that they should 
work peaceably together. Things went on amicably for several 
days, when one of the miners missed his pick. He accused the 
Indians of stealing it ; the chief declared that if it was in their 
camp it should be returned, and started to make inquiries. In- 
stead of walking he ran ; upon which one of the whites raised his 
rifle and shot him. The Indians then armed at once. The 
miners called up the remaining white men from the placer, and 
told them that they had been attacked and one of their number 
killed. The consequence of this false information was a general 
assault upon the Indians who were at once driven off, and had not 
returned up to the time of my visit. The same day a man named 
Aldrich, from Boston, was found in the meadow on the trail bv 
which we came, pierced with three arrows. The neighborhood 
of the Volcano was considered dangerous ground, and no one 
thought of venturing into the mountains, unless well armed. It 
is due to the miners to say, that on learning the true state of the 
quarrel, they banished the scoundrels whose heartless cruelty 
had placed the whole community in peril. 

We retraced our steps, saw the snows of the Nevada turned by 
the sunset to a brighter gold than any hidden in its veins, and 
reached the camp of the prospectors in a starry and beautiful 
twilight. As we approached through the trees, in the gathering 
gloom, they shouted to us to keep off, taking us for Indians, but 
allowed us to approach, when we answered in English. We were 
kindly received, and again procured an excellent supper. The 
men were better than we imagined. They had boon anxious about 
our safety the previous night, and fired their rifles as signals tc 



THE TOP OF POLO S PEAK. 249 

US. After we had grown tired of talking around the blazing camp- 
fire about grizzly bears, Mexicans, Gila deserts and gulches whose 
pockets were filled with gold, they gave us a corner in their tent 
and shared their blankets with us. I took their kindness as a re- 
buke to my former suspicions of their selfishness, and slept aU 
the better for the happiness of being undeceived. 

It was a model morning that dawned upon us. The splash of 
a fountain in the sun, the gloss of a white dove's wing, the wink- 
ing of the beaded bubbles on Keats' cool draught of vintage, could 
not have added a sparkle to its brightness. The sky was as blue 
and keen as a Damascus blade, and the air, filled with a resinous 
odor of pine, cedar and wild bay, was like the intoxication of new 
life to the frame. We were up and off" with the dawn, and walked 
several miles before breakfast. On reaching the foot of the Butte, 
Dr. G. and myself determined to make the ascent. Its ramparts 
of red. volcanic rock, bristling with chapparal, towered a thousand 
feet above us, seemingly near at hand in the clear air. We be- 
lieved we should be the first to scale its summit. The miners do 
not waste time in climbing peaks, and the Indians keep aloof, with 
superstitious reverence, from the dwelling-places of spirits. 

After a toilsome ascent, at an angle of 45°, we reached the 
summit. Here, where we supposed no human foot had ever been, 
we found on the crowning stone — the very apex of the pyramid — 
the letters " D. B." rudely cut with a knife. Shade of Daniel 
Boone ! who else but thou could have been pioneer in this far 
corner of the Farthest West ! As the buried soldier is awakened 
by the squadron that gallops to battle over his grave, has the 
tramp of innumerable trains through the long wilderness called 
thee forth to march in advance, and leave thy pioneer mark OD 
3 very unexplored region between sea and sea ? 



250 ELDORADO. 

Nevertheless we gave the name of Polo's Peak to the Butte — 
in honor of the dauntless old chief who presided over the countr^y 
round about. Before I left the region, the name was generally 
adopted by the miners, and I hope future travelers will remember 
it. The view ^rom the top is remarkably fine. Situated about 
half-way between the plain and the dividing ridge of the Sierra 
Nevada, the Peak overlooks the whole mountain country. The 
general appearance is broken and irregular, except to the east, 
where the ranges are higher. The mountains within ten miles of 
us had snow on their crests, and the Nevada — immaculate and 
lustrous in its hue — was not more than thirty miles distant. The 
courses of the Calaveras, Mokelumne and Cosumne, with the 
smaller creeks between them, could be distinctly traced. In the 
nearer region at our feet, we could see the miners at work felling 
logs and building their winter cabins, and hear the far whoop of 
Indians, from their hidden rancherias. On the west, the horizon 
was bounded by the Coast Range, Monte Diablo in the centre and 
Suisun Bay making a gap in the chahi. Between that blue wall 
and the rough region at our feet lay the great plains of Sacra- 
mento and San Joaquin, fifty miles in breadth, and visible for at 
least one hundred and fifty miles of extent. The sky was per- 
fectly clear, and this plain alone, of all the landscape, was covered 
with a thick white fog, the upper surface of which, as we looked 
down upon it, was slowly tossed to and fro, moving and shifting 
like the waves of an agitated sea. 

We enjoyed this remarkable prospect for an hour, and then 
made our way down the opposite side of the Peak, following beai 
and deer trails through patches of thorny chapparal and long 
elopes of sliding stones. We tarried for Dr. Carpentier in one of 
the glens, eating the acorns which lay scattered und'3r the trees 



ELECTION SCE^^ES AND MININ(^ CHARACTERS. 25 1 

A.S he did not appear, however, we climbed the river hills and 
came down on the Upper Bar, reaching our starting-point in time 
for a dinner to which we did full justice. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

ELECTION SCENES ANt) MINING CHARACTERS. 

On my arrival at the Lower Bar, I found ]Mr. Raney, of Stock- 
ton, who had made the journey with the greatest difficulty, the 
roads being almost impassable. The rainy season had now fairly 
Bct in, and as it came a month earlier than usual, the miners, in 
most cases, were without their winter supplies. Provisions of all 
kinds had greatly advanced in price, and the cost of freight from 
Stockton ran up at once to 75 cts. per lb. Flour was sold on 
the river at $1 per lb. and other articles were in the same pro- 
portion Much anxiety was felt lest the rains should not abate, 
in which case there would have been a great deal of suffering on 
all the rivers. 

The clouds gradually lowered and settled down on the topmost 
pines. Towards evening a chill rain came on, and the many 
gullies on the hill-sides were filled with brown torrents that 
brawled noisily on their way to the swollen Mokelumne. The big 
drops splashed dismally on our tent, as we sat within, but a 
double cover kept us completely dry and the ditch dug inside the 
pins turned off the streams that poured down its sides. During 
the night, however, the wind blew violently down the ravines, and 



252 ELDORADO. 

the skirts of our blankets nearest the side of tHe tent were 
thoroughly soaked. My boots stood under a leaky part of the 
canvas, and as I hastened to put them on next morning, without 
examination, I thrust my foot into about three inches of water 

The Election Day dawned wet and cheerlessly. From the folds 
of our canvas door, we looked out on the soaked and trickling 
hills and the sodden, dripping tents. Few people were stirring 
about the place, and they wore such a forlorn look that all idea of 
getting up a special enthusiasm was at once abandoned. There 
was no motion made in the matter. until towards noon, as the most 
of the miners lay dozing in their tents. The Alcalde acted as 
Judge, which was the first step ; next there were two Inspectors 
to be appointed. I was requested to act as one, but, although I 
had been long enough in the country to have held the office, I de- 
clined to acCv^pt until after application had been made to some of 
the inhabitants. The acquiescence of two of the resident traders 
relieved me of the responsibility. The election was held in the 
largest tent in the place, the Inspectors being seated behind the 
counter, in close proximity to the glasses and bottles, the calls for 
which were quite as frequent as the votes. I occupied a seat next 
the Alcalde, on a rough couch covered with an India-rubber 
blanket, where I passed the day in looking on the election and 
studying the singular characters present. 

As there were two or three candidates for State offices in the 
place, the drumming up of voters gave one a refreshing reminis- 
cence of home. The choosing of candidates from lists, nearly all 
of whom were entirely unknown, was very amusing. Names, in 
many instances, were made to stand for principles ; accordingly, a 
Mr. Fau' got many votes. One of the candidates, who had been 
on the river a few days previous, wearing a high-crowned silk hat. 



VOTING AND VOTERS. 253 

with narrow brim, lost about twenty votes on that account. Some 
went no fm-ther than to vote for those they actually knew. One 
who took the opposite extreme, justified himself in this wise : — 
" When I left home," said he, " I was determined to go it blind. 
I wont it blind in coming to California, and I'm not going to stop 
now. I voted for the Constitution, and I've never seen the Con- 
stitution I voted for all the candidat3s, and I donH know a 
damned one of them. I'm going it blind all through, I am." The 
Californians and resident Mexicans who were entitled to vote, were 
in high spirits, on exercising the privilege for the first time in 
their lives. It made no difibrence what the ticket was ; the fact 
of their having voted very much increased their salf-importance. 
for the day at least. 

The votes polled amounted to one hundred and five, all of which 
ivere " For the Constitution." The number of miners on the 
Bi.r, who were entitled to vote, was probably double this number, 
but those who were at work up among the gulches remained in 
their tents, on account of the rain. A company on the other side 
of the river was completely cut ofi" from the polls by the rise of 
the flood, which made it impossible for them to cross. The In- 
spectors were puzzled at first how far to extend the privilege of 
sufirage to the Mexicans. There was no copy of the Treaty of 
Queretaro to be had, and the exact wording of the clause referring 
to this subject was not remembered. It was at last decided, how- 
ever, that those who had been residing in the country since the 
conquest, and intended to remain permanently, might be admitted 
to vote ; and the question was therefore put to each one in turn. 
The most of them answered readily in the affirmative, and seemed 
delighted to be considered as citizens. " Como no ?" said a fat 
good-humored fellow, with a ruddy olive face, as he gave his 



254 ♦ELDORADO'. 

Barape a new twirl over his shoulder : " Como no 7 ioy America nc 
nhora.'''' (Why not? I am now an American.) The candidates, 
whose interest it was to search out all delinquents, finally exhaust- 
ad the roll, and the polls were closed. The returns were made 
out in due form, signed and dispatched by a messenger to tha 
Double Spring, to await the carrier from the Upper Bar, who was 
to convoy them to Stockton. 

Durino- the few days I spent on the Mokelumne, I had an oppor- 
tunity of becoming acquainted with many curious characteristics 
and incidents of mining life. It would have been an interesting 
study for a philosopher, to note the different effects which sudden 
eurichment produced upon different persons, especially those whose 
lives had previously been passed in the midst of poverty and pri- 
vation. The most profound scholar in human nature might here 
have learned something which all his previous wisdom and experi- 
ence could never teach. It was not precisely the development of 
new qualities in the man, but the exhibition of changes and con- 
trasts of character, unexpected and almost unaccountable. The 
world-old moral of gold was completely falsified. Those who were 
unused to labor, whose daily ounce or two seemed a poor recom- 
pense for weary muscles and flagging spirits, might carefully hoard 
their gains ; but they whose hardy fibre grappled with the tough 
earth as naturally as if it knew no fitter play, and made the coarse 
gravel and rocky strata yield up their precious grains,, were as 
profuse as princes and as open-hearted as philanthropists 
Weather-beaten tars, wiry, delving Irishmen, and stalwart forest- 
ers from the wilds of Missouri, became a race of sybarites and 
epicureans. Secure in possessing the " Open Sesame" to the 
exhaustless treasury under their feet, they gave free rein to every 
whim or impulse which could possibly be gratified. 



AN ENGLISHMAN IN RAPTURES. 



255 



It was no unusual thing to see a company of tliese men, who 
had never before had a thought of luxury beyond a good beef- 
steak and a glass of whiskey, drinking their champagne at ten dol- 
lars a. bottle, and eating their tongue and sardines, or warming in 
the smoky camp-kettle their tin canisters of turtle-soup and lobster- 
salad. It was frequently remarked that the Oregonians, though 
accustomed all their lives to the most simple, solid and temperate 
fare, went beyond every other class of miners in their fondness 
for champagne and all kinds of cordials and choice liquors 
These were the only luxuries they indulged in, for they were, to a 
man, cautious and economical in the use of gold. 

One of the most amusing cases I saw was that of a company of 
Englishmen, from New South Wales, who had been on the Moke- 
lumne about a week at the time of my visit. They had only 
landed in California two weeks previous, and this was their first 
experience of gold-digging. One of them, a tall, «trong-limbed 
fellow, who had served seven years as a private of cavalry, was 
unceasing in his exclamations of wonder and delight. He repeat- 
ed his story from morning till night, and in the fullness of his 
heart communicated it to every new face he saw. " By me soul, 
but this is a great country !" he would exclaim ; " here a man 
can dig up as much goold in a day as he ever saw in all his life 
Hav'n't I got already more than I know what to do with, an' IVe 
only been here a week. An' to think 'at I come here with never 
a single bloody farthing in my pocket ! An' the Frenchman, 
down the hill there, him 'at sells wittles, he wouldn't trust me for 
a piece of bread, the devil take him ! ' If ye 've no money, go an' 
dig some ;' says he ; * people dig here o' Sundays all the same.' 
* 111 dig o' Sundays for no man, ye bloody villain ;' says I, ' I'll 

starve first.' An' I did'nt, an' I had a hungry belly, too. But o 
1* 



256 ELDORADO. 

Monday I dug nineteen dollars, an' o' Tuesday twenty-three^ an' o 
Friday two hundred an' eighty-two dollars yi one lump as big as 
yer fist ; an' all for not workin' »' Sundays. Was there ever 
sieh a country in the world!" And, as if to convince himself 
that ho actually possessed all this gold, he bought champagne, ale 
and brandy by the dozen bottles, and insisted on supplying every 
body in the settlement. 

There was one character on the river, whom I had met on my 
first visit in August and still found there on my return. He pos- 
sessed sufficient individuality of appearance and habits to have 
made him a hero of fiction ; Cooper would have dehghted to have 
stumbled upon him. His real name I never learned, but he wag 
known to all the miners by the cognomen of " Buckshot" — an 
appellation which seemed to suit his hard, squab figure very well 
He might have been forty years of age or perhaps fifty ; his face 
was but slightly wrinkled, and he wore a heavy black beard which 
grew nearly to his eyes and entirely concealed his mouth. When 
he removed his worn and dusty felt hat, which was but seldom, hi? 
large, square forehead, bald crown and serious gray eyes gave him 
an appearance of reflective intellect ; — a promise hardly verified 
by his conversation. He was of a stout and sturdy frame, and 
always wore clothes of a coarse texture, with a flannel shirt and 
belt containing a knife. I guessed from a slight peculiarity of his 
accent that he was a German by birth, though I believe he was not 
considered so by the miners. 

The habits of " Buckshot" were still more eccentric than his 
appearance. He lived entirely alone, in a small tent, and seemed 
rather to shun than court the society of others. His tastes were 
exceedingly luxurious ; he always had the best of everything in 
the market, regardless of its cost The finest hams, at a dollai 



BUCKSHOT.' 



257 



and a half the pound ; preserved oysters, corn and peas, at six 
dollars a canister ; onions and potatoes, whenever such articles 
made their appearance ; Chinese sweetmeats and dried fruits, were 
all on his table, and his dinner was regularly moistened by a bottle 
of champagne. He did his own cooking, an operation which cost 
little trouble, on account of the scarcity of fresh provisions. When 
particularly lucky in digging, he would take his ease for a day or 
two, until the dust was exhausted, when he would again shoulder 
his pick and crowbar and commence burrowing in some lonely 
corner of the rich gulch. He had been in the country since the 
nrst discovery of the placers, a^d was reported to have dug, in all, 
between thirty and forty thousand dollars, — all of which he had 
«pent for his subsistence. I heard him once say that he never 
dug less than an ounce in one day, and sometimes as much as two 
pounds. The rough life of the mountains seemed entirely conge- 
nial to his' tastes, and he could not have been induced to change 
it for any other, though less laborious and equally epicurean 

Amoig the number of miners scattered through the differ- 
ent gulches, I met daily with men of education and intel- 
ligence, from all parts of the United States. It was never 
safe to presume on a person's character, from his dress or 
appearance. A rough, dirty, sunburnt fellow, with unshorn 
beard, quarrying aA^ay for life at the bottom of some rocky 
hole, might be a graduate of one- of the first colleges in the 
country, and a man of genuine refinement and taste. I found 
plenty of men who were not outwardly distinguishable from the 
inveterate trapper or mountaineer, but who, a year before, had 
been patientless physicians, briefless lawyers and half-starved 
editors. It was this infusion of intelligence which gave the gold 
huntino: communities notwithstandIu2: their barbaric exterior and 



258 ELDORADO. 

mode of life, an order and individual secui-ity wHich at first sight 
seemed little less than marvellous. 

Since my first visit, the use of quicksilver had been introduced 
on the river, and the success which attended its application to 
gold-washing will bring it henceforth into general use. An im- 
proved rocker, having three or four lateral gutters in its bottom, 
which were filled with quicksilver, took up the gold so perfectly, 
that not the slightest trace of it could be discovered in the refuse 
earth. The black sand, which was formerly rejected, was washed 
in a bowl containing a little quicksilver in the bottom, and the 
amalgam formed by the gold yielded four dollars to every pound 
of sand. Mr. James, who had washed out a great deal of this 
sand, evaporated the quicksilver in a retort, and produced a cake 
of fine gold worth nearly five hundred dollars. The machines sold 
at one thousand dollars apiece, the owners having wisely taken the 
precaution to have them patented. 

There is no doubt that, by means of quicksilver, much of the 
soil which has heretofore been passed by as worthless, will give a 
rich return. The day before my departure. Dr. Gillette washed 
out several panfuls of' earth from the very top of the hills, and 
found it to contain abundance of fine grains of gold. A heap of 
refuse earth, left by the common rocker after ten thousand dollars 
had been washed, yielded still another thousand to the new ma- 
chine. Quicksilver was enormously high, four dollars a pound 
having been paid in Stockton. When the mines of Santa Clara 
shall be in operation, the price will be so much reduced that its 
use will become universal and the annual golden harvest be thereby 
greatly increased. It will be many years before all the placers or 
aold deposits are touched, no matter how large the emigration to 
California may be The region in which all the mining operations 



MY OWN GOl D-DtGGING. 259 

are now carried on, extending from the base of the proper Sierra 
Nevada to the plains of Sacramentb and San Joaquin, is upwards 
of five hundred miles in length by fifty in breadth. Towards the 
head of the Sacramento River gold is also found in the granite 
formation, and there is every reason to believe that it exists in the 
valleys and canons of the great snowy ridge. 

I was strongly tempted to take hold of the pick and pan, and 
try my luck in the gulches for a week or two. I had fully intended, 
on reaching California, to have personally tested the pleasure of 
gold-digging, as much for the sake of a thorough experience of life 
among the placers as from a sly hope of striking on a pocket full 
of big lumps. The unexpected coming-on of the rainy season, 
made my time of too much account, besides adding greatly to the 
hardships of the business. Two or three days' practice is requisite 
to handle the implements properly, and I had no notion of learning 
the manipulations without fingering the gold. Once, indeed, I 
took a butcher-knife, went into one of the forsaken holes in the 
big gulch, lay on my back as I had seen the other miners do, and 
endeavored to pick out some yellow grains from the crevices of the 
crumbling rock. My search was vain, however, and I was indebted 
to the kindness of some friends for the only specimens I brought 
away from the Diggings. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE RAINY SEASON. 

I LEFT the Mokelmnne River the afternoon following Election 
Day, and retraced my path to Jackson's- Creek, which I reached 
at dark. Being unhorsed, I resumed my old plodding gait, 
" packing" my blankets and spurs. I was obliged to walk to the 
Upper Bar, in order to cross the Mokelumne, whose current was 
now very deep and rapid. A man named Bills, who kept a brush 
hotel with a canvas roof, had set up an impromptu ferry, made by 
nailing a few planks upon four empty barrels, lashed together 
This clumsy float was put over by means of a rope stretched from 
bank to bank. The tendency of the barrels to roll in the swift 
current, made it very insecm-e for more than two persons. The 
same morning, four men who were crossing at once, overbore its 
delicate equilibrium and were tipped into the water, whence they 
.were rescued with some difficulty. A load of freight met with the 
same luck just before I reached the ferry. The banks were heaped 
with barrels, trunks, crates of onions and boxes of liquor, waiting 
to be taken over, and some of the Mexican arrieros were en J. -a 
voring to push their pack-mules into the water and force th^in to 
swim. I took my place on the unsteady platform with somo doubts 
of a dry skin, but as we were all careful to keep a plumb line, the 
passage was made in safety. 



NIGHT AT Jackson's creek. 261 

I toiled up the windings of a deep gulch, whose loneliness, after 
[ had passed the winter huts of the gold-diggers, was made very 
impressive by the gathering twilight. The gray rocks which walled 
it in towards the summit looked dim and spectral under the eaves 
of the pines, and a stream of turbid water splashed with a melan- 
choly sound into the chasm below. The transparent glimmer of 
the lighted tents on Jackson's Creek had a cheery look as seen at 
the bottom of the gulch on the other side of the mountain. I 
stopped at Cosgrove's tent, where several travelers who had ar- 
rived before me were awaiting supper. We sat about the fire and 
talked of gold-digging, the election and the prospect of supplies 
for the winter. When Mrs. Cosgrove had finished frying her beef 
and boiling her coflee, we rolled to the table all the casks, boxes 
and logs we could find, and sat down to our meal under the 
open stars. A Chinook Indian from Oregon acted as waiter — an 
attendance which we would rather have dispensed with. I was 
offered a raw-hide in one corner of a small storage-tent, and spread 
my blanket upon it ; the dampness of the earth, however, striking 
through both hide and blankets, gave me several chills and rheu- 
matic pains of the joints, before morning. The little community 
established on the knoll numbered about sixty persons. They 
were all settled there for the winter, though the gold dug did 
not average more than half an ounce to each man, daily. 

Next morning, I crossed the hills to Sutter's Creek, where I 
found the settlement increased by several new arrivals. From 
this place my path branched off* to the north, crossing several 
mountain ridges to' Amador's Creek, which, like the streams I had 
already passed, was lined with tents and winter cabins. I ques- 
tioned several miners about their profits, but could get no satisfac- 
tory answer. Singularly enough, it is almost impossible to learn 



262 ELDORADO. 

from the miners themselves, unless one happens to be a near ac- 
quaintance, the amount of their gains. If unlucky, they dislike 
to confess it ; if the contrary, they have good reason for keeping it 
secret. When most complaining, they may be most successful. 
I heard of one, who, after digging fruitlessly for a week, came- 
suddenly on a pocket, containing about three hundred dollars. 
Seeing a friend approaching, he hastily filled it up with stones, and 
began grubbing in the top soil. " Well, what luck .?" inquired 
his friend. " Not a damned cent," was the answer, given with a 
mock despondency, while the pale face and stammering voice be- 
trayed the cheat at once. Nobody believes you are not a gold- 
hunter. He must be a fool, they think, who would go to the 
mountains for any other purpose. The questions invariably asked 
me were : " Where have you been digging .?" and " Where do 
you winter .?" If I spoke of going home soon, the expression 
was : " Well, I s'pose you've got your pile ;" or, " You've been 
lucky in your prospecting, to get ofi'so soon." 

Leaving Amador's Creek, a walk of seven miles took me to 
Dry Creek, where I found a population of from two to three hun- 
dred, established for the winter. The village was laid out with 
some regularity, and had taverns, stores, butchers' shops and 
monte tables. The digging was going on briskly, and averaged 
a good return. The best I could hear of, was J 114 in two 
days, contrasted with which were the stories of several who had 
got nothing but the fever and ague for their pains. The amount 
of sickness on these small rivers during the season had been very 
great, and but a small part of it, in my opinion, was to be ascribed 
to excesses of any kind. All new countries, it is well known, 
breed fever and ague, and this was especially the case in the gold 
region, where, before the rains came on, the miner was exposed 



THE WINTER SE'l T^EMENTS. 2G3 

to intense heat during the day and was frequently cold under 
double blankets at night. The water of many of the rivers occa- 
sions diarrhoea to those who drink it, and scarcely one out of a 
hundred emigrants escapes an attack of this complaint. 

At all these winter settlements, however small, an alcalde is 
chosen and regulations established, as near as possible in accord- 
ance with the existing laws of the country. Although the autho- 
rity exercised by the alcalde is sometimes nearly absolute, the 
miners invariably respect and uphold it. Thus, at whatever cost, 
order and security are preserved ; and when the State organization 
shall have been completed, the mining communities, for an extent 
of five hundred miles, will, by a quiet and easy process, pass into 
regularly constituted towns, and enjoy as good government and 
protection as any other part of the State. Nothing in California 
seemed more miraculous to me than this spontaneous evolution of 
social order from the worst elements of anarchy It was a lesson 
worth even more than the gold. 

The settlement on Dry Creek is just on the skirts of the rough 
mountain region — the country of canons, gulches, canadas and 
divides ; terms as familar in the diggings as " per cent" in Wall- 
street. I had intended to strike directly across the mountains to 
the American Fork. The people represented this route to be im- 
practicable, and the jagged ridges, ramparted with rock, which 
towered up in that direction, seemed to verify the story, so I took 
the trail %r Daly's Ranche, twenty-two miles distant. After 
passing the Wiflow Springs, a log hut on the edge of a swamp, 
the road descended to the lower hills, where it was crossed by fre- 
quent streams. I passed on the way a group of Indians who were 
skinning a horse they had killed and were about to roast. They 
»v?ro well armed and had probably shot the horse while it was 



2t54 ELDORADO. 

grazing. I greeted them with a " buenas dias," which they sul- 
lenly returned, adding an " ugh ! ugh !" which might have ex- 
pressed either contempt, admiration, friendship or fear. 

In traveling through these low hills, I passed several companies 
of miners who were engaged in erecting log huts for the winter. 
The gravelly bottoms in many places showed traces of their pros- 
pecting, and the rocker was in operation where there was sufficient 
water. When I inquired the yield of gold I could get no satis- 
factory answer, but the faces of the men betrayed no sign of disap- 
pointment. While resting under a leafless oak, I was joined by a 
boy of nineteen who had been digging on the Dry Creek and was 
now returning to San Francisco, ague-stricken and penniless. We 
walked on in company for several hours, under a dull gray sky, 
which momentarily threatened rain. The hot flush of fever was 
on his face, and he seemed utterly desponding and disinclined to 
talk. Towards night, wten the sky had grown darker, he de- 
clared himself unable to go further, but I encouraged him to keep 
on until we reached a cabin, where the miners kindly received him 
for the night. ! 

I met on the road many emigrant wagons, bound for the dig- 
gings. They traveled in companies of two and three, joining 
teams whenever their wagons stuck fast in the mire. Some were 
obliged to unload at the toughest places, and leave part of their 
stores on the Plain until they could return from their Winter quar- 
ters. Their noon camps would be veritable treasures for my 
friend Parley, the artist, if he could have seen them. The men 
were all gaunt, long-limbed Rip Van Winkles, with brown faces, 
matted hair and beards, and garments which seemed to have 
grown up with them, for you could not believe they had ever been 
taken off. The women, who were somewhat more tidy, had suf- 



THE RAINS AND THE PLAINS. 2G5 

fered less from the journey, but there were still many fine subjects 
for the pencil among them. In the course of the day I passed 
about thirty teams. 

At night, after a toilsome journey, I reached the Cosumne 
River, two miles below the diggings. I was wet from the swamps 
I crossed and the pools I had waded, weary in body, and 
thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of traveling on the 
Plains during the rainy season. One would think, from the 
parched and seamed appearance of the soil in summer, that noth- 
ing short of an absolute deluge could restore the usual moisture. 
A single rain, however, fills up the cracks, and a week of wet 
weather turns the dusty plain into a deep mire, the hollows into 
pools, and the stony arroyos into roaring streams. The roads 
tiien become impassable for wagons, killing to mules, and terribly 
laborious for pedestrians. In the loose, gravelly soil on the hill- 
tops, a horse at once sinks above his knees, and the only chance 
of travel is by taking the clayey bottoms. Where, a month be- 
fore there had been 2. Jornada of twenty miles, arid as the desert, 
my path was now crossed by fifty streams. 

"Where the trail struck the river I came upon a small tent, 
pitched by the roadside, and was hailed by the occupants. They 
were two-, young men from Boston, who came out in the sum- 
mer, went to the North-Fork of the American, prospered in their 
digging, and were going southward to spend the winter. They 
were good specimens of the sober, hardy, persevering gold-digger 
— a class who never fail to make their " piles." I willingly ac- 
cepted their invitation to spend the night, whereupon they threw 
another log on the camp-fire, mixed some batter for slap-jacks, and 
put a piece of salt pork in the pan. We did not remain long 
about the fire, after my supper was finished. Uniting our store of 



266 ELDORADO. 

blankets, we made a bed in common for all three, entirely filling 
the space covered by the little tent. Two or three showers fell 
during the night, and the dash of rain on the canvas, so near my 
head, made doubly grateful the warmth and snugness of oui 
covert. 

The morning brought another rain, and the roads grew deeper 
and tougher. At Coates's Ranche, two miles further, I was 
ferried across the Cosumne in a canoe. The river was falling, and 
teams could barely pass. The day previous a wagon and team 
had been washed several hundred yards down the stream, and the 
owners were still endeavoring to recover the running works which 
lay in a deep hole. Several emigrant companies were camped on 
the grassy bottoms along the river, waiting a chance to cross. At 
the ranche I found breakfast just on the table, and to be had at 
the usual price of a dollar and a half ; the fare consisted of beef 
broiled in the fire, coarse bread, frijoles and coffee. The landlady 
was a German emigrant, but had been so long among the Ameri- 
can settlers and native rancheros, that her talk was a three-stranded 
twist of the different languages. She seemed quite unconscious 
that she was not talking in a single tongue, for all three came 
to serve her thought with equal readiness. 

I stood in the door some time, deliberating what to do. The 
sky had closed in upon the plain with a cheerless drizzle, which 
made walking very uncomfortable, and I could find no promise of 
a favorable change of weather. My intention had been to visit 
Mormon Island and afterwards Culloma Mill, on the American 
Fork. The former place was about thirty miles distant, but the 
trail was faint and difl&cult to find ; while, should the rain increase, 
1 could not hope to make the journey in one day. The walk to 
Sacramento presented an equally dispiriting aspect, but after some 



A RANCHE.AND ITS INHABITANTS. 267 

[juostioning and deliberation, I thought it possible that General 
Morse might have left my gray mare at some of the ranches 
further down the river, and resolved to settle the question before 
going further. Within the space of two or three miles I visited 
three, and came at last to a saw-mill, beyond which there was no 
habitation for ten miles. The family in an adjoining house seemed 
little disposed to make my acquaintance ; I therefore took shelter 
from the rain, which was now pouring fast, in a mud cabin, on the 
floor of which lay two or three indolent vaqueros They were 
acquainted with every animal on all the ranches, and unhesitating 
ly declared that my mare was not among them. 

When the rain slacked, I walked back to one of the othei 
ranches, where I found several miners who had taken shelter in a 
new adobe house, which was partially thatched. We gathered 
together in a room, the floor of which was covered with wet tule 
and eiuieavored to keep ourselves warm. The place was so chiU 
that I went into the house inhabited by the familv, and asked per- 
mission to dry myself at the fire. The occupants were two wo- 
men, apparently sisters, of the ages of eighteen and thirty ; the 
younger would have been handsome, but for an expression of ha- 
bitual discontent and general contempt of everything. They made 
no answer to my request, so I took a chair and sat down near the 
blaze. Two female tongues, however, cannot long keep silent, 
and presently the elder launched into a violent anathema against 
all emigrants, as she called them. I soon learned that she had 
been in the country three years ; that she had at first been living 
on Bear Creek ; that the overland emigrants, the previous year, 
having come into the country almost destitute, appropriated some 
of the supplies which had been left at home while the family was 
absent gold -hunting ; and, finally, that the fear of being in future 



268 ELDORADO. . 

plundered of their cattle and wheat had driven them to the banks 
of the Cosumne, where they had hoped for some security. They 
were deceived, however ; the emi^r^'^^s troubled them worse than 
ever, and though they charged a dollar and a half a meal and 
sometimes cleared fifty dollars a day, still their hatred was not 
abated. 

Most especially did the elder express her resentment against 
the said emigrants, on account of their treatment of the Indians. 
I felt disposed at first to agree with her wholly in their condem- 
nation, but it appeared that she was influenced by other motives 
than those of humanity. " Afore these here emigrants come," 
said she ; " the Injuns were as well-behaved and bidable as could 
be ; I liked 'em more 'n the whites. When we begun to find gold 
on the Yuber, we could git 'em to work for us day in and day out, 
fur next to nothin'. We told 'em the gold was stufi" to whitewash 
houses with, and give 'em a hankecher for a tin-cup full ; but after 
me emigrants begun to come along and put all sorts of notions 
into their heads, there was no gettm them to do nothin'." 

I took advantage of a break in this streak of " chain lightning," 
to inquire whether Dr. Gwin and Gren. Morse had recently passed 
that way ; but they did not know them by name. " Well," said 
I, " the gentlemen who are trying to get elected." " Yes," re- 
joined the elder, " tkem. people was here. They stuck their heads 
in the door one night and asked if they might have supper and 
lodgiii' I told 'em no, I guessed they couldn't. Jist then Mr. 
Kewen come along ; he know'd 'em and made 'em acquainted. 
Gosh ' but I was mad. I had to git supper for 'em then ; but if 
't'd 'a bin fwe, I'd 'a had more spunk than to eat, after I'd bin 
told I could'n't." It had been difficult for me to keep a serious 
countenance before, but now I burst into a hearty laugh, which 



A FEMININE COMPLIMLNT. 260 

they took as a compliment to their " spunk." One of the house- 
hold, a man of some education, questioned me as to the object of 
my emigration to California, which I explained without reserve. 
This, however, brought on another violent expression of opinion 
from the same female. " That's jist the way," said she ; '^ som^ 
people come here, think they've done great things, and go home 
and publish all sorts of lies ; but they don't know no more'n noth- 
in' in Grod A'mighty's world, as much as them peoj-le that's bin 
here three years." After this declaration I thought it best to 
retreat to the half-finished adobe house, and remain with my com- 
panions in misery. Towards evening we borrowed an axe, with 
which we procured fuel enough for the night, and built a good 
fire. A Mexican, driven in by the rain, took out his cards and set 
up a monte bank of ten dollars, at which the others played with 
shillings and quarters. I tried to read an odd volume of the 
*' Scottish Chiefs," which I found in the house, but the old charm 
was gone, and I wondered at the childish taste which was so fasci- 
nated with its pages. 

We slept together on the earthen floor. All night the rain pat- 
tered on the tuU thatch, but at sunrise it ceased. ' The sky was 
still lowering, and the roads were growing worse so rapidly, that 
instead of starting across the plains for Mormon Island, the near- 
est point on the American Fork where the miners were at work, 
T turned about for Sacramento City, thinking it best to return 
while there was a chance. A little experience of travel over the 
saturated soil soon convinced me that my tour in the mountains 
was over. I could easily relinquish my anticipations of a visit to 
the minmg regions of the American Fork, Bear and Yuba Rivers, 
for life at the different diggings is very much the same,, and the 
character of the fi^old deposits does not materially vary ; but there 



270 • ELDORADO. 

had ever been a shining point in the background of all my for* 
mer dreams of California — a shadowy object to be attained, of 
which I had never lost sight during my wanderings and from 
which I could not turn away without a pang of regret and disap- 
pointment. This was, a journey to the head of the Sacramento 
Valley, a sight of the stupendous Shaste Peak, which stands like 
an obelisk of granite capped with gleaming marble, on the bor- 
ders of Oregon, and perhaps an exploration of the terrific canons 
through which the river plunges in a twenty-mile cataract, from 
the upper shelf of the mountains. The fragments of description 
which I had gathered from Oregonians, emigrants and " prospec- 
tors" who had visited that region, only made my anticipations 
more glowing and my purpose more fixed. I knew there was 
grandeur there, though there might not be gold. Three weeks of 
rough travel, had the dry season extended to its usual length, 
would have enabled me to make the journey ; but, like most of 
'the splendid plans we build for ourselves, I was obliged to give it 
up on the eve of fulfilment. A few days of rain completely washed 
it out of my imagination, and it was long before I could fill the 
blank. 

I was accompanied by one of the " Iowa Rangers," from Du- 
buque, Iowa. He had been at work at the Dry Diggings on Weav- 
er's Creek. He was just recovering from the scurvy, and could 
not travel fast, but was an excellent hand at wading. Before 
reaching the timber of the American Fork, we crossed thirty or 
forty streams, many of which were knee-deep. Where they were 
so wide as to render a leap impossible, my pjan was to dash througL 
at full speed, and I generally got over with but a partial satura- 
tion ; the broad, shallow pools obliged us to stop and pull ofi^ our 
boots. It was one form of the water-cure I did not relish. " If 



SACRAMENTO AGAIN 271 

this be traveling in the rainy season," thought I, "I'll have none 
of it." 

On the banks of the American Fork we found a sandy soil and 
made better progress. Following that beautiful stream through 
the afternoon, we came at dusk to Sutter's Fort, which was sur- 
rounded by a moat of deep mud. I picked my way in the dark 
to Sacramento City, but was several times lost in its tented laby- 
rinths before I reached Oapt. Baker's store — under whose hospi- 
table roof I laid down my pack and took up my abode for several 
days. 



CHAPTER XXVL 

NIGHT IN SACRAMENTO CITY. 

Sacramento City was one place by day and anotlier by night, 
and of the two, its night-side was the most peculiar. As the daj 
went down dull and cloudy, a thin fog gathered in the humid at- 
mosphere, through which the canvas houses, lighted from within, 
shone with a broad, obscure gleam, that confused the eye and 
made the streets most familiar by daylight look strangely different. 
They bore no resemblance to the same places, seen at mid-day, 
under a break of clear sunshine, and pervaded with the stir of 
business iife. The town, regular as it was, became a bewildering 
labyrinth of half-light and deep darkness, and the perils- of travers- 
ing it were greatly increased by the mire and frequent pools left 
by the rain. 

To one, venturing out after dark for the first time, these perik 
were by no means imaginary. Each man wore boots reaching to 
the knees — or higher, if he could f^et them — with the pantaloons 
tucked inside, but there were pii-falls, into which had he fallen, 
even these would have availed little. In the more frequented 
streets, where, drinking and gambling had full swing, there was a 
partial light, sti^paming out through doors and crimson window- 
aurtains, to guide his steps. Sometimes a platform of plank re- 



PERILS OF A NIGHT RAMBLE. 27S 

ceived his feet ; sometimes he skipped from one loose bairel-stave 
to another, laid with the convex-side upward ; and sometimes, 
deceived by a scanty piece of scantling, he walked off its further 
end into a puddle of liquid mud. Now, floundering in the stiff 
niire of the mid-street, he plunged down into a guUey and was 
" brought up" by a pool of water ; now, venturing near the houses 
a scaffold-pole or stray beam dealt him an unexpected blow. If 
he wandered into the outskhts of the town, where the tent-city of 
the emigrants was built, his case was still worse. The briery 
thickets of the original forest had not been cleared away, and the 
stumps, trunks and branches of felled trees were distributed over 
the soil with delightful uncertainty. If he escaped these, the la- 
riats of picketed mules spread their toils for his feet, threatening 
entanglement and a kick from one of the vicious animals ; tent- 
ropes and pins took him across the shins, and the horned heads of 
cattle, left where they were slaughtered, lay ready to gore him at 
every step. A walk of any distance, environed by such dangers, 
especially when the air was damp and chill, and there was a pos- 
sibihty of rain at any moment, presented no attractions to the 
weary denizens of the place. 

A great part of them, indeed, took to their blankets soon after 
dark. They were generally worn out with the many excitements 
of the day, and glad to find a position of repose. Reading was 
out of the question to the most of them when candles were $4 pei 
lb. and scarce at that : but in any case, the preternatural activity 
and employment of mind induced by the business habits of tho 
place would have made impossible anything like quiet thought 
I saw many persons who had brought the works of favorite authors 
wHh them, for recreation at odd hours, but of all the works thub 
brought, I never saw one read. IMen preferred — or rather it groW; 



274 ELDORADO. 

involuntarily, into a custom — to lie at ease instead, and turn over 
in the brain all their shifts and manoeuvres of speculation, to see 
whether any chance had been left untouched. Some, grouped 
around a little pocket-stove, beguile an hour or two over their 
cans of steaming punch or other warming concoction, and build 
schemes out of the smoke of their rank Guayaquil puros — for the 
odor of a genuine Havana is unknown. But, by nine o'clock at 
farthest, nearly all the working population of Sacramento City are 
stretched out on mattrass, plank or cold earth, according to the 
state of their fortunes, and dreaming of splendid runs of luck or 
listening to the sough of the wind in the trees. 

There is, however, a large floating community of overland emi- 
grants, miners and sporting characters, who prolong the wakeful- 
ness of the streets far into the night. The door of many a gam- 
bling-hell on the levee, and in J and K streets, stands invitingly 
open ; the wail of torture from innumerable musical instruments 
peals from all quarters through the fog and darkness. Full bands, 
each playing different tunes discordantly, are stationed in front of 
the principal establishments, and as these happen to be near to- 
gether, the mingling of the sounds in one horrid, ear-splitting, 
brazen chaos, would drive frantic a man of delicate nerve. All 
one's old acquaintances in the amateur-music line, seem to have 
followed him. The gentleman who played the flute in the next 
room to yours, at home, has been hired at an ounce a night to 
perform in the drinking-tent across the way ; the very French 
horn whose lamentations used to awake you dismally from the first 
sweet snooze, now greets you at some corner ; and all the squeak- 
ing violins, grumbling violincellos and rowdy trumpets which have 
severally plagued you in other times, are congregated here, in 
loving proximity. The very strength, loudness and confusion of 



ETHIOPIAN MELODIES. 275 

the noises^ which, heard at a little distance, have the effect of one 
great scattering performance, marvellously takes the fancy of the 
rough mountain men. 

Some of the establishments have small companies of Ethiopian 
melodists, who nightly call upon " Susanna !" and entreat to be 
carried back to Old Yirginny. These songs are universally po- 
pular, and the crowd of listeners is often so great as to embarrass 
the player at the monte tables and injure the business of the 
gamblers. I confess to a strong liking for the Ethiopian aii*s, and 
used to spend half an hour every night in listening to them and 
watching the curious expressions of satisfaction and delight in the 
faces of the overland emigrants, who always attended in a body. 
The spirit of the music was always encouraging ; even its most 
doleful passages had a grotesq-ie touch of cheerfulness — a mingling 
of sincere pathos and whimsical consolation, which somehow took 
hold of all moods in which it might be heard, raising them to the 
same notch of careless good-humor. The Ethiopian melodies well 
deserve to be called, as they are in fact, the national airs of America. 
Their quaint, mock-sentimental cadences, so well suited to the 
broad absurdity of the words — their reckless gaiety and irreverent 
familiarity with serious subjects — and their spirit of antagonism 
and perseverance — are true expressions of the more popular sides 
of the national character. They follow the American race in all 
its emigrations, colonizations and conquests, as certainly as the 
Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day. The penniless and half 
despairing emigrant is stimulated to try again by the sound of 
" It '11 never do to give it up so V and feels a pang of home-sick- 
ness at the burthen of the " Old Virginia Shore." 

At the time of which I am writing, Sacramento City boasted 
the only theatre in California. Its performances, three times a 



276 ELDORADO. 

week, were attended by crowds of the miners, and the owners 
realized a very handsome profit. The canvas building used for 
this purpose fronted on the levee, within a door or two of the City 
Hotel ; it would have been taken for an ordinary drinking-house, 
but for the sign : " Eagle Theatre," which was nailed to the! 
top o"' the canvas frame. Passing through the bar-room we ar- 
rive at the entrance ; the prices of admission are : Box, $3 ; 
Pii;^ $2. The spectators are dressed in heavy overcoats and felt 
hats, with boots reaching to the knees. The box-tier is a single 
rough gallery at one end, capable of containing about a hundied 
persons ; the pit will probably hold three hundred more, so that 
the receipts of a full nouse amount to $900. The sides and roof 
of the theatre are canvas, which, when wet, efifectually prevents 
ventilation, and renders the atmosphere hot and stifling. The 
drop-curtain, which is down at present, exhibits a glaring land- 
scape, with dark-brown trees in the foreground, and lilac-colored 
mountains against a yellow sky. 

The overture commences ; the orchestra is composed of only 
five members, under the direction of an Italian, and performs with 
tolerable correctness. The piece for the night is " The Spectre 
of the Forest," in which the celebrated actress, Mrs. Ray, " of the 
Royal Theatre, New Zealand," will appear. The bell rings ; the 
curtain rolls up ; and we look upon a forest scene, in the midst of 
which appears Hildebrand, the robber, in a sky-blue mantle. The 
foliage of the forest is of a dark-red color, which makes a great 
impression on the spectators and prepares them for the bloody 
scenes that are to follow. The other characters are a brave 
knight in a purple dress, with his servant in soarlet ; they are 
about to storm the robber's hold and carry off a captive maiden 
Several acts are filled with the usual amount of fighting and ter 



THE INSIDE OF A CALIFORNIA THEATRE 2i7 

fible speeches ; but the interest of the play ii carried to aii awful 
height ])j the appearance of two spectres, clad in mutilated tent- 
covers, and holding spermaceti candles in their hands. At this 
juncture Mrs. Ray rushes in and throws herself into an attitude in 
the middle of the stage : why she does it, no one can tell. This 
movement, which she repeats several times in the course of the 
first three acts, has no connection with the tragedy ; it is evidently 
introduced for the purpose of showing the audience that there is, 
actually, a female performer. The miners, to whom the sight of 
a woman is not a frequent occurrence, are delighted with these 
passages and applaud vehemently. 

In the closing scenes, where Hildebrand entreats the heroine to 
become his bride, Mrs. Ray shone in all her glory. " No !" said 
she, " I'd rather take a basilisk and wrap its cold fangs around me, 
than be clasped in the hembraces of an 'artless robber." Then, 
changing her tone to that of entreaty, she calls upon the knight in 
purple, whom she declares to be " me 'ope — me only 'ope !" We 
will not stay to hear the songs and duetts which foUow ; the 
tragedy has been a sufficient infliction. For her " 'art-rending" 
personations, Mrs. Ray received $200 a week, and the wages of 
the other actors were in the same proportion. A musical gentle- 
man was paid $96 for singing " The Sea ! the Sea !" in a deep 
bass voice. The usual sum paid musicians was $16 a night. A 
Swiss organ-girl, by playing in the various hells, accumulated 
$4000 in the course of five or six months. 

The southern part of Sacramento City, where the most of the 
overland emigrants had located themselves, was an interesting place 
for a night-ramble, when one had courage to undertake threading 
the thickets among which their tents were pitched. There, on 
fallen logs about their camp-fires, might be seen groups that had 



278 ELDORADO. 

journoyed together across the Continent, recalling the hardships 
and perils of the travel. The men, with their long beards, 
weather-beaten faces and ragged garments, seen in the red, flick- 
ering light of the fires, made wild and fantastic pictures. Some- 
times four of them might be seen about a stump, intent on re- 
viving their ancient knowledge of "poker," and occasionally a 
more social group, filling their tin cups from a kettle of tea or 
something stronger. Their fires, however, were soon left to 
smoulder away ; the evenings were too raw and they were too 
weary with the day's troubles to keep long vigils. 

Often, too, without playing the eavesdropper, one might mingle 
unseen with a great many of their companies gathered together 
inside the tents. Tte thin, transparent canvas revealed the sha- 
dows of their forms, and was no impediment to the sound of their 
voices ; besides, as they generally spoke in a bold, hearty tone, 
every word could be overheard at twenty yards' distance. The 
fragments of conversation which were caught in walking through 
this part of the city made a strange but most interesting medley. 
There were narratives of old experience on the Plains ; notes 
about the passage of the mountains compaied ; reminiscences of 
the Salt Lake City and its strange enthusiasts ; sufierings at the 
sink of Humboldt's River and in the Salt Desert recalled, and 
opinions of California in general, given in a general manner. 
The conversation, however, was sure to wind up with a talk 
about home — a lamentation for its missed comforts and frequently 
a regret at having forsaken them. The subject was inexhaustible, 
and when once they commenced calling up the scenes and inci- 
dents of their life in the Atlantic or Mississippi world, everything 
3lse was forgotten. At such times, and hearing snatches of these 
conversations, I too was carried home by an irresistible longing, 



squatters' and gamblers' quarrels. 279 

and went back to my blankets and dreams of grizzly bear, dis- 
couraged and dissatisfied 

Before I left the place, tbe number of emigrants settled there 
for the winter amounted to two or three thousand. They were 
all located on the vacant lots, which had been surveyed by the 
original owners of the town and were by them sold to others. The 
emigrants, who supposed that the- land belonged of right to the 
United States, boldly declared their intention of retaining pos 
session of it. Each man voted himself a lot, defying the threats 
and remonstrances of the rightful owners. The town was greatly 
agitated for a time by these disputes ; meetings were held by both 
parties, and the spirit of hostility ran to a high pitch. At the 
time of my leaving the country, the matter was still unsettled, but 
the flood which occurred soon after, by sweeping both squatters 
and speculators off the ground, balanced accounts for awhile and 
left the field clear for a new start. 

In the gambling-hells, under the excitement of liquor and play, 
a fight was no unusual occurrence. More than once, while walk- 
ing in the streets at a late hour, I heard the report of a pistol ; 
once, indeed, I came near witnessing a horrid affray, in which one 
of the parties was so much injured that he lay for many days blind, 
and at the point of death. I was within a few steps of the door, 
and heard the firing in time to retreat. The punishment for these 
quarrels, when inflicted — which was very rarely done — was not so 
prompt and terrible as for theft ; but, to give the gambling com- 
munity *tlieir due, their conduct was much more orderly and re- 
spectable than it is wont to be in other countries. This, however, 
was not so much a merit of then* own possessing, as the effect of a 
strong public sentiment in favor of preserving order. 

T must not omit to mention the fate of my old gray mare, who 
2* 



280 ELDORADO. 

would have served me faithfully, had she been less lazy and better 
provided with forage. On reaching Sacramento City I found that 
Gen. Morse had been keeping her for me at a livery stable, at a 
cost of $5 a day. She looked in much better spirits than when I 
saw her eating pine-bark on the Mokclumne, and in riding to the 
town of Sutter, I found that by a little spurring, she could raise 
a very passable gallop. The rains, however, by putting a stop to 
travel, had brought down the price of horses, so that after search- 
ing some time for a purchaser I could get no offer higher than 
$50. I consented to let her go ; we went into a store and weighed 
out the price in fine North Fork gold, and the new owner, after 
trotting her through the streets for about an hour, sold her again 
for $60. I did not care to trace her fortunes further. 



CHAPTER XXm 

THE OVERLAND EMIGRATION OF 1849. 

Sacramento City was the goal of the eiuigration by the north- 
ern routes. From the beginning of August to the last of December 
scarcely a day passed without the arrival of some man or company 
of men and famihes, from the mountains, to pitch their tents for 
a few days on the bank of the river and rest from their months of 
hardship. The vicissitudes through which these people had passed, 
the perils they had encountered and the toils they had endured 
seem to me without precedent in History. The story of thu-ty 
thousand souls accomplishing a journey of more than two thousand 
miles through a savage and but partially explored wilderness, 
crossing on their way two mountain chains equal to the Alps in 
height and asperity, besides broad tracts of burning desert, and 
olains of nearly equal desolation, where a few patches of stunted 
shrubs and springs of brackish water were their only stay, has in 
it so much of heroism, of daring and of sublime endurance, that 
we may vainly question the records of any age for its equal. 
Standing as I was, at the closing stage of that grand pilgrimage, 
the sight of these adventurers as they canu in day by day, and the 
hearing of their stories, each of which had its own peculiar anil 
separate character, had a more fascinating, because more real in- 
terest than the tales of the glorious old travelers which so impr^^s 
as in childhood 



2^2 ELDORADO 

It would be impossible to give, in a general description of the 
euiigration, viewed as one great movement, a complete idea of its 
many wonderful phases. The experience of any single man, which 
a few years ago would have made him a hero for life, becomes, 
mere common-place, when it is but one of many thousands ; yet 
the spectacle of a great continent, through a region of one thou- 
sand miles from north to south, being overrun with these adven- 
turous bands, cannot be pictured without the relation of many 
episodes of individual bravery and suffering. I will not attempt a 
full account of the emigration, but, as I have already given an 
outline of the stories of those who came by the Gila route, a simi- 
'lar sketch of what those encountered who took the Northern route 
— the great overland highway of the Continent — will not be without 
its interest in this place. 

The great starting point for this route was Independence, Mo.; 
where thousands were encamped through the month of April, 
waiting until the grass should be sufficiently high for their cattle, 
before they ventured on the broad ocean of the Plains. From the 
first of May to the first of June, company after coiJipany took its 
departure from the frontier of civilization, till the emigrant trail 
from Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri, to Fort Laramie, at the 
foot of the Kocky Mountains, was one long line of mule-trains and 
wagons. The rich meadows of the Nebraska, or Platte, were 
settled for the time, and a single traveler could have journeyed for 
the space of a thousand miles, as certain of his lodging and regular 
meals as if he were riding through the old agricultural districts of 
the Middle States. The wandering tribes of Indians on the Plains 
— -the Pawnees, Sioux and Arapahoes — were alarmsd and Itewil- 
dercd by this strange apparition. They believed they were about 
to be swept away forever from their hunting-grounds and graves. 



THE CHOLERA ON THE PLAIN 6. 283 

A.S the season advanced and the great bodj of the emigrants got 
under way, they gradually withdrew from the vicinity of the trail 
and betook themselves to grounds which the former did not reach. 
All conflicts with them were thus avoidrd, and the emigrants 
passed the Plains with perfect immunity from their thievish and 
hostile visitations. 

Another and more terrible scourge, however, was doomed to fall 
upon them. The cholera, ascending the Mississippi from New 
Orleans, reached St. Louis about the time of their departure from 
Independence, and overtook them before they were fairly embarked 
on the wilderness. The frequent rains of the early spring, added 
to the hardship and exposure of their travel, prepared the way for 
its ravages, and the first three or four hundred miles of the trail 
were marked by graves. It is estunated that about four thousand 
persons perished from this cause. Men were seized without warn- 
ing with the most violent symptoms, and instances occurred in 
which the sufferer was left to die alone by the road-side, while his 
panic-stricken companions pushed forward, vainly trusting to get 
beyond the influence of the epidemic. Rough boards were planted 
at the graves of those who were buried near the trail, but there 
a e hundreds of others lying unmarked by any memorial, on the 
bleak surface of the open plain and among the barren depths of the 
mountains. I have heard men tell how they have gone aside from 
th'^ii company to bury some old and cherished friend — a brother, 
t may often have been — performing the last rites alone and un- 
aiiled, and leaving the remains where none but the wolf will ever 
seek their resting-place. 

By the time the companies reached Fort Laramie the epidemic 
had expended its violence, and in the pure air of the elevated 
iiiountain region they were safe from its further attacks. Now- 



284 ELDORADO 

however, the r'^al hardships of their journey began. Up and down 
the mountains that hem in the Sweetwater Valley — over the sp'irs 
of the Wind River chain — through the Devil's Gate, and past the 
stupendous mass of Rock Independence — they toiled slowly up to 
the South Pass, descended to the tributaries of the Colorado and 
plunged into the rugged defiles of the Timpanozu Mountains. 
Here the pasturage became scarce and the companies were obligod 
to take separate trails in order to ^nd sufficient grass for their 
teams. Many, who, in their anxiety to get forward with speed, 
had thrown away a great part of the supplies that encumbered 
them, now began to want, and were frequently reduced, in their 
necessity, to make use of their mules and horses for food. It was 
not unusual for a mess, by way of variety to the tough mule-meat, 
to kill a quantity of rattle-snakes, with which the mountains 
abounded, and have a dish of them fried, for supper. The distress 
of many of the emigrants might have been entirely avoided, had 
they possessed any correct idea, at the outset of the journey, of its 
length and privations. 

It must have been a remarkable scene, which the City of the 
Great Salt Lake presented during the summer. There, a com- 
munity of religious enthusiasts, numbering about ten thousand, 
had established themselves beside an inland sea, in a grand 
valley shut in by snow-capped mountains, a thousand miles from 
any other civilized spot, and were dreaming of rebuilding the 
Temple and creating a New Jerusalem. Without this restiac-- 
place in mid-journey, the sufierings of the emigrants must have 
been much aggravated. The Mormons, however, whose rich 
grain-lands in the Valley of the Utah River had produced them 
abundance of supplies, were able to spare sufficient for these whose 
stock was exhausted. Two or three thousand, who arrived late in 



THE EMIGRA.VTS IN THE GREAT BASIN. 285 

the season, remained in the Valley all winter, fearing to undertake 
the toilsome journey wHch still remained. 

Those who set out for California had the worst yet in store for 
them. Crossing the alternate sandy wastes and rugged mountain 
chains of the Grreat Basin to the Valley of Humboldt's River, they 
were obliged to trust entirely to their worn and weary animals for 
reaching the Sierra Nevada before the winter snows. The grass 
was scarce and now fast drying up in the scorching heat of mid- 
summer. In the endeavor to 4iasten forward and get the first 
chance of pasture, many again committed the same mistake of 
fclu-owing away their supplies. I was told of one man, who, with a 
refinement of malice and cruelty which it would be impossible to 
surpass, set fire to the meadows of dry grass, for the sole purpose, 
it was supposed, of retarding the progress of those who were be- 
hind and might else overtake him. A company of the emigrants 
on the best horses which were to be obtained, pursued him and 
shot him from the saddle as he rode — a fate scarcely equal to his 
deserts. 

The progress of the emigrants along the Valley of Humboldt's 
River is described as having been slow and toilsome in the ex- 
treme. The River, which lies entirely within the Great Basin, — 
whose waters, like those of the uplands of Central Asia, have no 
connexion with the sea — shrinks away towards the end of summer, 
and finally loses itself in the sand, at a place called the Sink 
Here, the single trail across the Basin divides into three branches, 
and the emigrants, leaving the scanty meadows about the Sink 
have before them an arid desert, varying from fifty to eighty miles 
in broadth, according to the route which they take. Many com- 
panies, on arriving at this place, were obliged to stop and recruit 
Jieir exhausted animals, though exposed to the danger of being 



286 ELDORADO* 

detained there the whole winter, from the fall of sncw on the 
Sierra Nevada. Another, and very large body of them, took the 
upper route to Lawson's Pass, which leads to the head of the 
Sacramento Valley ; but the greater part, fortunately, chose the 
old traveled trails, leading to Bear Creek and the Yuba, by way of 
Truckee River, and to the head-waters of the Rio Americano by ' 
way of Carson's River. 

The two latter routes are the shortest and best. After leaving 
the Sink of Humboldt's River, and crossing a desert of about fifty 
miles in breadth, the emigrant reaches the streams which are fed 
from the Sierra Nevada, where he finds good grass and plenty of 
game. The passes are described as terribly rugged and precipitous, 
leading directly up the face of the great snowy ridge. As, how- 
ever, they are not quite eight thousand feet above the sea, and are 
reached from a plateau of more than four thousand feet, the ascent 
is comparatively short ; while, on the western side, more than a 
hundred miles of mountain country must be passed, before reach- 
ing the level of the Sacramento Valley. There are frequent 
passes in the Sierra Nevada which were never crosi^ed before the 
summer of 1849. Some of the emigrants, diverging from the 
known trail, sought a road for themselves, and found their way 
down from the snows to the head waters of the Tuilumne, the 
Calaveras and Feather River. The eastern slope of the Sierra 
Nfevada is but imperfectly explored. All the emigrants concurred 
in representing it to me as an abrupt and broken region, the 
higher peaks of barren granite, the valleys deep and narrow, yet 
in many places timbered with pine and cedar of immense growth. 

After passing the dividing ridge, — the descent from which was 
rendered almost impossible by precipices and steeps of naked rock 
— about thirtv miles of alternate caftons and divides lay between 



THE DESCENT OF THE MOUNTAINS. 287 

fchc emigrants and the nearest diggings. Thp steepness of the 
slopes of this range is hardly equalled by anyother mountains in 
the world. The rivers seem to wind' their way through the bot- 
toms of chasms, and in many places it is impossible to get down 
to the water. The word canon (meaning, in Spanish, a funnel,) 
has a peculiar adaptation to these cleft channels through which the 
rivers are poured. In getting down from the summit ridge the 
emigrants told me they were frequently obliged to take the oxen 
from the wagon and lower it with ropes ; but for the sheer descents 
which followed, another plan was adopted. The wheels were all 
locked, and only one yoke of oxen left in front ; a middling- 
sized pine was then cut down, and the butt fastened to the 
axle-tree, the branchy top dragging on the earth. The holding 
back of the oxen, the sliding of the locked wheels, and the resist- 
ance of the tree together formed an opposing power sufficient to 
admit of a slow descent ; but it was necessary to observe great care 

lest the pace should be quickened, for the slightest start would 

t 
have overcome the resistance and given oxen, wagon and tree to- 
gether a momentum that would have landed them at the bottom in 
a very different condition. 

Iri August, before his departure for Oregon, Gen. Smith took 
the responsibility of ordering pack-mules and supplies to be pro- 
vided at the expense of Government, and gave Major Rucker 
orders to dispatch relief companies into the Great Basin to succor 
the emigrants who might be remaining there, for want of pro- 
visions to advance further. In this step he was also warmly 
seconded by Gen. Riley, and the preparations were made with the 
least possible delay. Public meetings of the citizens of San Fran- 
cisco were also held, to contribute means of relief. Major Rucker 
dispatch«^d a party with supplies and fresh animals by way of the 



288 ELDORADO. 

Truckee River route to the Sink of Humboldt's River, while be 
took the expedition to Pitt River and Lawson's Pass, under his 
own command. The first p^-rty, after furnishing provisions on 
the road to all whom +hey found in need, reached the Sink, and 
started the families wbo were still encamped there, returning with 
them by the Carson River route and bringmg in the last of the 
emigration, only a day or two before the heavy snows came on, 
which entirely blocked up the passes But for this most timely 
aid, hundreds of persons must navt. perished by famine and cold. 

Those who took the trail for Lawson's Pass fared ev6n worse. 
They had been grossly deceived with regard to the route, which, 
instead of being a nearer passage into California, is actually two 
hundred miles longer than the other routes, and though there is no 
ridge of equal height to be crossed, the amount of rough mountain 
travel is even greater. The trail, after crossing the Sierra by a 
low gap, (which has lately been mentioned in connection with the 
Pacific Railroad,) enters the Valley of Pitt River, one of the 
tributaries of the Upper Sacramento. Following the course of 
this river for about ninety miles, it reaches a spur of the Sierra 
Nevada, which runs from the head waters of Feather River to 
near the Shaste Peak, closing up the level of the lower Sacramento 
Valley. These mountains are from five to six thousand feet in 
height and rugged in the extreme, and over them the weary emi- 
grant must pass before the Land of Promise — the rich Valley of 
the Sacramento — meets his view. 

At .the time I returned to Sacramento City, Major Rucker had 
just returned from his expedition. He found a large body of 
emigrants scattered along Pitt River, many of them entirely 
destitute of provisions and others without their animals, which 
the predatory Indians of that region had stolen. Owing to the 



APATHY IN PERIL. 2SU 

large number who required his assistance, he was obliged to re- 
turn to the ranches on Deer Creek and procure further supplies, 
leaving Mr. Peoples to hurry them on meanwhile. Everything 
was done to hasten their movement, but a strange and unaccount- 
able apathy seemed to have taken possession of them. The sea- 
son was late, and a single day added to the time requisite to get 
them into the Sacramento Valley might prove ruinous to them 
and their assistants Whether the weary six months they passed 
in the wilderness had had the effect of destroying all their active 
energy and care for their own safety, or whether it was actual 
ignorance of their true situation and contempt of counsel because 
it seemed to wear the shape of authority, it is difficult to tell — but 
the effect was equally dangerous. After having improvidently 
thrown away, in the first part of the journey, the supplies so need- 
ful afterwards, they now held fast to useless goods, and refused to 
lighten the loads of their tired oxen. But few of them appeared 
to have a sense of the aid which was rendered them ; instead 
of williiiily cooperating with those who had charge of tho relief 
party, they gave much unnecessary trouble and delayed the jour 
ney several days. 

Of the companies which came by this route several small parties 
struck into the mountains to the southward of Pitt River, hoping 
to find an easy road to t]v' diggings on Feather River. Of these, 
some reached the river, after many days of suffering and danger ; 
others retraced their steps and by making desperate efforts re- 
gained the companies on Pitt River, while some, who had not 
been heard of at the time T left, were either locked up for the 
winter in the midst of terrible snows, oi had already perished from 
hunger. [ met with one or two who had been several days in the 

Tjountains without food, and only escaped death by a miracle. A 
13 



290 ELDOKADO. 

company of six, who set out on the hunt of some Indians who had 
stolen their cattle, never returned. 

It happened to the emigrants as Major Rucker had fore^^arned 
them. A letter from Mr. Peoples, which he received during my 
stay, gave a most striking account of the hardships to which they 
had subjected themselves. A violent storm came on while they 
were crossing the mountains to Deer Creek, and the mules, unac- 
customed to the severe cold, sank down and died one after another. 
In spite of their remonstrances, Mr. Peoples obliged them to leave 
their wagons and hurry forward with the remaining animals. The 
women, who seemed to have far more energy and endurance than 
the men, were mounted on mules, and the whole party pushed on 
through the bleak passes of the mountains in the face of a raging 
storm. By extraordinary exertions, they were all finally brought 
into the Sacramento Valley, with the loss of many wagons and 
animals. On receiving this letter. Major Rucker set out for Law 
son's Ranche on Deer Creek, where he saw the emigrants com- 
fortably established for the winter. They had erected log-houses 
for shelter ; the flour supplied to them from the Government stores 
and cattle from the large herds on the neighboring ranches, fur- 
nished them with the means of subsistence. The return to Sac- 
ramento City, in the depth of the rainy season, was an almost im- 
possible undertaking. 

The greater part of those who came in by the lower routes, 
started, after a season of rest, for the mining region, where many 
of them arrived in time to build themselves log huts for the winter 
Some pitched their tents along the river, to wait for the genial 
spring season ; while not a few took their axes and commenced 
the Lu.siuess of wood-cutting in tlie timber on its banks. When 
shipped to San Francisco, the wood, which they took with the 



CLOSE OF THE EMIGRATION. 291 

usual freedom of Uncle Sam's nephews, brought $40 a cord ; the 
steamboats which called for it on their trips up and down, paid 
$15. By the end of December the last man of the overland com- 
panies was safe on the western side of the Sierra Nevada, and the 
great interior vsdlderness resumed its ancient silence and solitude 
until the next spring. 



CHAPTER XXVllL 

THE ITALY OF THE WEST 

At the end of a week of rain, during which we had a few de- 
ceptive gleams of clear weather, I gave up all hope of getting to 
the Yuba and Feather Rivers, and took my passage in the steamer 
Senator, for San Francisco. The time for leaving was before sun- 
rise, and the loud ringing of the first bell awoke me as I lay on my 
Chinese quilt in Capt. Baker's store. The weather had changed 
during the night, and when I went out of doors I found a keen, 
cloudless dawn, with the wind blowing down the river. Had the 
three weeks of dry season, so confidently predicted by the old set' 
tiers, actually commenced ? I was not long in deliberating, though 
the remote chance of an opportunity for making my journey to the 
Shaste Peak, tempted me sorely ; but the end proved that I de- 
cided aright, for on the second day after my arrival at San Fran- 
cisco, the rains set in again worse than ever. 

The steamer, which formerly ran between Boston and Eastport, 
was a strong, spacious and elegant boat. Notwithstanding the 
fare to San Francisco was $30, she rarely carried less than two 
hundred passengers. When. I went on board, her decks were al- 
ready filled, and people were hurrying down from all parts of the 
town, her bell tolling meanwhile with the quick, incessant stroke 



STEAM ON THE SACRAMENTO. 



of a Hudson Kiver boat, one minute before the time of starting. 
After my recent barbaric life, her long upper saloon, with its sofas 
and faded carpet, seemed splendid enough for a palace. As we 
sped down the Sacramento, and the well-known bell and sable 
herald made their appearancej requesting passengers to step to the 
Captain's office, I could scarcely believe that I was in California. 
On the hurricane deck I met with several persons who had been 
fellow-passengers on the Atlantic and Pacific. Some had been to 
the head of the Sacramento Valley ; some on Feather River ; 
some again on the famous Trinity, where they had got more fever 
than gold ; but all, though not alike successful, seemed energetic 
and far from being discouraged. 

After passing the town of Sutter, the bell rang for breakfast, 
and having previously procured a ticket for two dollars, I joined 
the anxious throng who were pressing down the cabin stairs. The 
long tables were set below in the same style as at home ; the fare 
was abundant and well prepared ; even on the Hudson it would 
have given rise to tew grumblings. We steamed rapidly down 
the river, with Monte Diablo far before us. Owing to the twists 
and turns of the stream, it was but an uncertain landmark, now 
appearing on one side and now on the other. The cold snows of 
the Sierra Nevada were faintly seen in the eastern sky, but between 
the Sacramento and the mountains, the great plain stretched out 
in a sweep which to the north and south ran unbroken to the 
horizon. The banks, stripped now of their summer foliage, would 
have been dreary and monotonous, but for the tents and log-houses 
of the settlers and wood-cutters. I noticed in little spots where 
the thicket had been cleared away, patches of cabbages and other 
'aardy vegetables, which seemed to have a thrifty growth. 

We came 'at last to the entrance of the slough, the navigation 



294 ELDORADO. 

of which was a matter of considerable nicety. The current was 
but a few feet wider than the steamer, and many of the bends 
occasioned her considerable trouble. Her bow sometimes ran in 
among the boughs of the tises, where she could not well be 
backed without her stern goiog into the opposite bank. Much' 
time and part of the planking of her wheel-houses were lost in 
getting through these narrow straits. The small craft on their 
way up the river were obliged to run close under the limbs of the 
trees and hug the banks tightly until we had passed. At last we 
came out again in the teal Sacramento, avoiding the numerous 
other sloughs which make off into the tule marshes, and soon 
reached the city of Montezuma, a solitary house on a sort of head- 
land projecting into Suisun Bay and fronting its rival three-house 
city, New-York-of-the-Pacific The bay was dancing to the fresh 
northern breeze as we skimmed its waters towards Benicia ; Monte 
Diablo, on the other side, wore a blue mist over his scarred and 
rocky surface, which looked deceptively near. 

The three weeks of rain which had fallen since I passed up the 
bay, had brought out a vivid green over all the hills. Those along 
the water were no longer lifeless and barren, but covered with 
sprouting vegetation. Benicia, as we approached it, appeared 
like a child's toy town set out on a piece of green velvet. Con- 
trasted with this gay color, the changeless hue of the evergreen 
oaks appeared sombre almost to blackness ; seen in unison with 
a cloudless sky and the glittering blue of the bay, the effect 
of the fresh green was indescribably cheerful and inspiring. 
We touched but a few minutes at Benicia, whose streeta 
presented a quiet appearance, coming from the thronged avenues 
of Sacramento City. The houses were mostly frame, of neat 
construction ; a church with a small white spire, at the upper 



THE SUNSETS OF CALIFORNIA. 295 

end of the town, stood out brightly against the green of the hills 
behind. 

Beyond these hills, at the distance of thirty-five miles, is the 
pleasant little town of Sonoma, Gen. Yallejo's residence. Tn 
summer it is reached from Sacramento City by a trail of forty 
miles, but when the rains come on, the tule marshes running ujv 
from the bay between the river and the mountains, are flooded, 
and a circuit of more than a hundred miles must be made to get 
around them. Two days' journey north of Sonoma is Lake Clear, 
a beautiful sheet of water, sixty miles in length, embosomed in the 
midst of grand mountain scenery. 

Sunset came on as we approached the strait opening from Pablo 
Bay into the Bay of San Francisco. The cloudless sky became 
gradually suffused with a soft rose-tint, which covered its whole sur- 
face, painting alike the glassy sheet of the bay, and glowing most 
vividly on the mountains to the eastward. The color deepened 
every moment, and the peaks of the Coast Range burned with a 
rich vermilion light, like that of a live coal. This faded gradually 
into as glowing a purple, and at last into a blue as intense as that 
of the sea at noonday. The first eff'ect of the light was most 
wonderful ; the mountains stretched around the horizon like a 
belt of varying fire and amethyst between the two roseate deeps 
of air and water ; the shores were transmuted into solid, the air 
into fluid gems. Could the pencil faithfully represent this mag- 
nificent transfiguration of Nature, it would appear utterly unreal 
and impossible to eyes which never beheld the leality. It was no 
transient spectacle, fading away ere one could feel its surpassing 
glory. It lingered, and lingered, changing almost imperceptibly 
and with so beautiful a decay, that one lost himself in the enjoy- 
'iient of each successive charm, without regret for those which 



296 ELDORADO. 

.were over. The dark blue of the mountains deepened into their 
night-garb of dusky shadow without any interfusion of dead ashy 
color, and the heaven overhead was spangled with all its stars long 
before the brilliant arch of orange in the west had sunk below the 
horizon. I have seen the dazzling sunsets of the Mediterranean 
flush the beauty of its shores, and the mellow skies which Claude 
used to contemplate from the Pincian Hill ; but, lovely as they 
are in my memory, they seem cold and pale when I think of the 
splendor of such a scene, on the Bay of San Francisco. 

The approach to the city was very imposing in the dusk. The 
crowd of shipping, two or three miles in length, stretched along 
the water in front ; the triple crown of the hills behind was clearly 
marked against the sky, and from the broad space covered with 
•sparkling lights, glimmerings of tents and white buildings, and 
the sounds of active life, I half believed that some metropolis of a 
century's growth lay before me. On landing, notwithstanding I 
had only been absent three weeks, I had some difficulty in recog- 
nizinc' localities. The change appeared greater than at any pre- 
vious arrival, on account of the removal of a great many of the 
old buildings and the erection of larger and more substantial edi- 
fices in their stead. 

After a few days of violent rain, the sky cleared and we had a 
week of the most delicious weather I ever experienced. The tem- 
perature was at no time lower than 50°, and in the middle of the 
day rose to 70°. When the floating gauze of mist had cleared ofl 
the water, the sky was without a cloud for the remainder of the 
day, and of a fresh, tender blue, which was in exquisite relief to 
the pale green of the hills. To enjoy the delighful temperature 
and fine scenery of the Bay, T used frequently to climb a hill just 
m the rear of the town, whence the harbor, the strait into Pablo 



A COMPANY CF WASHMEN. 297 

Bay, the Golden Gate and the horizon of the Pacific 3ould all be 
seen at one view. On the top of the hill are the graves of several 
Russians, who came out in the service of the Russian Company, 
each surmounted with a black cross, bearing an inscription in their 
language. All this ground, however, has been surveyed, staked 
into lots and sold, and at the same rate of growth the city will not 
be long in climbing the hill and disturbing the rest of the Musco- 
vites. 

In company with my friends, the Moores, I made many short 
excursions among the hills, during this charming season. Our 
most frequent trip was to Fresh Pond, in the neighborhood of the 
old Presidio. With a gray donkey — an invaluable beast, by the 
way — ^harnessed to a light cart, in which we had placed two or 
three empty barrels, we drove out to the place, a little basin shut 
in by the hills, and only divided by a narrow bushy ridge from the 
waters of the G-olden Grate. Several tents were pitched on its 
margin; the washmen and gardeners had established themselves 
there and were diligently plying their respective occupations. A 
little strip of moist bottom adjoining the pond had been cleared of 
its thickets and was partly ploughed, showing a rich black loam. 
The washerwomen, of whom there were a few, principally Mexicans 
and Indians, had established themselves on one side of the pond 
and the washmen on another. The latter went into the business 
on a large scale, having their tents for ironing, their large kettles 
for boiling the clothes and their fluted wash-boards along the edge 
of the water. It was an amusing sight to see a great, burly, long- 
bearded fellow, kneeling on the ground, with sleeves rolled up to 
the elbows, and rubbing a shirt on the board with such violence 
that the suds flew and the buttons, if there were any, must soon 
wnap off Their clear-starching auu ironing were still more ludi- 



298 ELDORADO. 

crous , bat, notwithstanding, tliey succeeded fully as well as the 
women, and were rapidly growing rich from the profits of their 
business. Where ^8 a dozen is paid for washing clothes, it is 
very easy to earn double the wages of a Member of Congress 

The sunsets we saw from the hills as we drove slowly back witl 
the barrels filled, were all of the same gorgeous character. The 
air had a purity and sweetness which made the long hour of twi- 
light enchanting, and we frequently lingered on the road till after 
dark. We helped our patient donkey up the hill by pushing be- ' 
hind his cart — an aid he seemed fully to appreciate, for he pulled 
at such times with much more spirit. He had many curious ways 
about him, the most remarkable of which was his capacity for di- 
gestion. Cloth, canvas and shavings seemed as much his natural 
food as hay or green grass. Whenever he broke loose during the 
night, which was not seldom, it was generally followed in the 
morning by a visit from some emigrant, claiming damages for the 
amount of tent-covering which had been chewed up. Once, in- 
deed, a man who had indulged rather freely in bad brandy, at 
twenty-five cents a glass, wandered in the dark to the place where 
'the donkey was tethered, lay down at his feet and fell asleep. 
When he awoke in the morning, sobered by the coolness of his, 
bed and foggy blankets, he found to his utter surprise and horror, 
that the ravenous beast had not only devoured his cap but cropped 
nearly all the hair from one side of his head ! As the man's hair 
happened to be glowing in color and coarse in texture, the mistake 
of the donkey in taking it to be swamp hay, is not so much to be 
wondered at. 

The valley about the Mission Dolores was charmingly green 
and beautiful at this time. Several of the former miners, in an* 
ticipation of the great influx of emigrants into the country and a 



AN ATTEMPT AT SQUATTER LIFE. 299 

consequent market for vegetables, pitched their tents on the best 
spots along the Mission Creek, and began preparing the ground 
for gardens. The valley was surveyed and staked into lots almost 
to the summit of the mountains, and the operation of squatting 
was performed even by many of the citizens of San Francisco, for 
the purpose of obtaining titles to the land. Some gentlemen of 
my acquaintance came into the possession of certain stone quarries, 
meadow lands and fine sheep-pastures, in this manner ; where- 
upon a friend of mine, and myself, concluded to try the experiment, 
thinking the experience might, at least, be of some benefit. So, 
one fine morning we rode out to the Mission, where we found the 
surveyor on one of the hills, chopping up the chapparal into 
" hundred vara" lots. He received us cordially, and on looking 
over his map of the locality, found two adjoining lots of two hun- 
dred varas each, which were still unoccupied. They lay on tho 
western side of the Valley, on the slope of the mountains. We 
hastened away, crossed two yawning arroyos and climbed the steep 
where, truly enough, we found the stakes indicating the limits of 
the survey. I chose a little valley, scooped out between two peaks 
of the ridge, and watered by a clear stream which trickled down 
.through its centre. My friend took a broader tract, which was not 
so well watered as mine ; however, on examining the soil, we 
agreed that it would produce good crops of cabbages and turnips 
Accordingly, we marched leisurely over the ground, ascended to 
its highest part, and took a seat on a boulder of gray rock, which 
stood exactly upon the line between our two territories. All tho 
beautiful Valley lay beneath us, with the bay beyond, a part of the 
shipping of San Francisco, and Monte Diablo in the distance — a 
fine prospect for a squatter ! 

Od our return to the city, we debated whelher we should pro- 



300 ELDORADO. 

cure materials for a tent and take up an abode on the lofty lots ; 
but, as it was not at all clear that any land could be granted, or 
that it would be worth taking even if we should become bona fide 
settlers, we finally determined to let the matter rest. We did not 
repeat our visit, and we learned soon afterwards that violent dis- 
putes had arisen between the inhabitants of the Mission and the 
emigrants who had commenced gardening. I, who never owned 
a rood of land in my life, would nevertheless have accepted the 
proprietorship of one of the bleak pinnacles of the Sierra Navada — 
or better, the top of the Shaste Peak — could it have been given 
me, for the mere satisfaction of feeling that there was one spot of 
the Earth which I might claim as my own, down to its burning 
centre. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

8AN FRANCISCO, FOUR MONTHS LATER. 

Of all the marvellous phases of the history of the Present, the 
growth of San Francisco is the one which will most tax the bcliol 
of the Future. Its parallel was never known, and shall never be 
beheld again. I speak only of what I saw; wi^ my owe eye». 
When I landed there, a little more than four months before, I 
found a scattering town of tents and canvas houses, with a show 
of frame buildings on one or two streets, and a population of about 
fciix thousand. Now, on my last visit, I saw around me an actual 
metropolis, displaying street after street of well-built edifice^,' 
filled with an active and enterprising people and exhibiting eveiy 
mark of permanent commercial prosperity. Then, the town was 
limited to the curve of the Bay fronting the anchorage and bottoms 
of the hills. Now it stretched to the topmost heights, followed 
the shore around point after point, and sending back a long arm 
through a gap in the hills, took hold of the Golden Gate and was 
building its warehouses on the i)pen strait and almost fronting the 
blue horizon of the Pacific. Then, the gold-seeking sojourner 
lodged in muslin rooms and canvas garrets, with a philosophic 
lack of furniture, and ate his simple though substantial fare from 
pine boards. Now, lofty hotels, gaudy with verandas and bal- 
conies, were met with in all quarters, furnished with home luxury, 



302 • ELDORADO. 

and aristocratic restaurants presented daily their long bills of fare, 
rich with the choicest technicalities of the Parisian cuisine. Then, 
vessels were coming in day after day, to lie deserted and useless at 
their anchorage. Now scarce a day passed, but some cluster of 
sails, bound outward through the Golden Grate, took their way to 
all the corners of the Pacific, feike the magic seed of the Indian 
juggler, which grew, blossomed and bore fruit before the eyes of 
his spectators, San Francisco seemed to have accomplished in a 
day the growth of half a century. 

When I first landed in California, bewildered and amazed by 
what seemed an unnatural standard of prices, I formed the 
opinion that there would be before long a great crash in specula- 
tion. Things, it appeared then, had reached the crisis, and it was 
pronounced impossible that they could remain stationary. This 
might have been a very natural idea at the time, but the subse- 
quent course of affairs proved it to be incorrect. Lands, rents, 
goods and subsistence continued steadily to advance in cost, and as 
the credit system had been meanwhile prudently contracted, the 
character of the business done was the more real and substantial. 
Two or three years will pass, in all probability, before there is a 
positive abatement of the standard of prices. There will be 
fluctuations in the meantime, occasioning gi^at gains and losses, 
but the fall in rents and real estate, when it comes, as it inevitably 
must in the course of two or three years, will not be so crushing 
as I at first imagined. I doubt whether it will seriously injure the 
commercial activity of the place. Prices will never fall to the 
same standard as in the Atlantic States. Fortunes wiil always be 
made by the sober, intelligent, industrious, aiid energetic ; but no 
one who is either too careless, too spiritless or too ignorant to suc- 
ceed at home, need trouble himself about emigrating. The same 



ITEMS OF SPECULATION. 303 

general rule holds good, as well here as elsewhere, and it is all the 
better for human nature that it is so. 

Not only was the heaviest part of the business conducted 
on cash principles, but all rents, even to lodgings in hotels, were 
required to be paid in advance. A single bowling-alley, in the 
basement story of the Ward House — a new hotel on Portsmouth- 
Square — prepaid $5,000 monthly. The firm of Findley, John- 
son & Co. sold their real estate, purchased a year previous, for 
$20,000, at $300,000 ; $25,000 down, and the rest in monthly 
instalments of $12,500. This was a fair specimen of the specu 
lations daily made. Those on a lesser scale were frequently of a 
very amusing character, but the claims on one's astonishment were 
so constant, that the faculty soon wore out, and the most unheard- 
of operations wei'e looked upon as matters of course Among 
others that came under my observation, was one of a gentleman 
who purchased a barrel of alum for $6, the price in New York 
being $9. It happened to be the only alum in the place, and as 
there was a demand icr it shortly afterwards, he sold the barrel 
for $150. Another i:)ur3hased all the candle-wick to be found, at 
an average price of 40 cts. per lb., and sold it in a short time at 
$2 25 per lb. A friend of mine expended $10,000 in purchasing 
barley, which in a week brought $20,000 The greatest gains 
were still made by the gambling tables and the eating-houses. 
Every device that art could suggest was used to swell the custom 
of the former. The latter found abundant support in the neces- 
sities of a large floating population, in addition to the swarm of 
permanent residents. 

For a month or two previous to this time, money had. been very 
scarce in the market, and from ten to fifteen per cent, monthly, was 
paid, with the addition of good security. Notwithstanding the 



30-i 5LD0RADO. 

quantity of coin brought into the country by en.igrants, and the 
millions of gold dust used as currency, the actual specie basis 
ivas very small compared with the immense amount of business 
transacted. Nevertheless, I heard of nothing like a failure ; the 
principal firms were prompt in all then- dealings, and the chivalry 
of Commerce — to use a new phrase — was as faithfully observed as 
it could have been in the old marts of E Arope ?nd America. The 
merchants had a 'Change and News-room, and were beginning to 
cooperate in their movements and consolidate their credit. A 
stock company which had built a long wharf at the foot of Sacra- 
ento-st. declared a dividend of ten per cent, within six weeks after 
the wharf was finished. During the muddy season, it was the 
only convenient place for lauding goods, and as the cost of con- 
structing it was enormous, so were likewise the charges for wharf- 
age ana storage. 

There had been a vast improvement in the means of living 
since my previous visit to San Francisco. Several large hotels 
had been opened, which were equal 'n almost every respect to 
houses of the second class in the Atlantic cities. The Ward 
House, the Graham House, imported bodily from Baltimore, and 
the St. Francis Hotel, completely threw into the shade all former 
establishments, The rooms were furnished with comfort and even 
luxury, and the tables lacked few of the essentials of good living, 
according to a ' home' taste. The sleeping apartments of the St 
Francis were the best in California. The cost of board and 
lodging was $150 per month — which was considered unusually 
cheap. A room at the Ward House cost $250 monthly, withoui 
board. The principal restaurants charged ^35 a week foi 
board, and there were lodging houses where a berth or " bunk' 
— one out cf fifty in the same room — might be had for ^6 a week 



A CITY OF MEN. S05 

The model of these establishments — which were far from being 
" model lodging-houses" — was that of a ship. A number of state- 
rooms, containing six berths each, ran around the sides of a large 
room, or cabin, where the lodgers resorted to read, write, smoke 
and drink at their leisure. The state-rooms were consequently 
filled with foul and unwholesome air, and the noises in the cabin 
prevented the passengers from sleeping, except between midnight 
and four o'clock. 

The great war t of San Francisco was society. Think of a city 
of thirty thousand inhabitants, peopled by men alone ! The like 
of this was never seen before. Everyman was his own housekeeper, 
doing, in many instances, his own' sweeping, cooking, washing and 
mending. Many home-arts, learned rather by observation than 
experience, came conveniently into play. He who cannot make a 
bed, cook a beefsteak, or sew up his own rips and rents, is unfit, 
to be a citizen of California. Nevertheless, since the town began 
to assume a permanent shape, very many of the comforts of life 
in the East were attainable. A family may now live there with- 
out suffering any material privations ; and if every married man, 
who intends spending some time in California, would take his 
foraily with him, a social influence would soon be created to which 
we might look for the happiest results. 

Towards the close of my stay, the city was as dismal a place as 
could well be imagined. The glimpse of bright, warm, serene 
weather passed away, leaving in its stead a raw, cheerless, south- 
east storm. The wind now and then blew a heavy gale, and the 
cold, steady fall of rain, was varied by claps of thunder and sud- 
den blasts of hail. The mud in the streets became little short 
of fathomless, and it was with difficulty that the mules could drag 
Uieir emptj^ wa£'ons through. A powerful London dray-horse, a 



306 ELDORADO. 

very giant in harness, was the only animal able to pull a good 
load ; and I was told that he earned his master $100 daily. I sa\^ 
occasionally a company of Chinese workmen, carrying bricks and 
mortar, slung by ropes to long bamboo poles. The plank side- 
walks, in the lower part of the city, ran along the brink of pools 
and quicksands, which the Street Inspector and his men vainly en- 
deavored to fill by hauling cart-loads of chapparal and throwing 
sand on the top ; in a day or two the gulf was as deep as ever. 
The side-walks, which were made at the cost of $5 per foot, 
bridged over the worst spots, but I was frequently obliged to go 
the whole length of a block in order to get on the other side. 
One could not walk any distance, without getting at least ancle- 
deep, and although the thermometer rarely sank below 50^, it was 
impossible to stand still for even a short time without a death-like 
chill taking hold of the feet. As a consequence of this, coughs 
and bronchial afi'ections were innumerable. The universal custom 
of wearing the pantaloons inside the boots threatened to restore 
the knee-breeches of our grandfathers' times. Even women were 
obliged to shorten their skirts, and wear high-topped boots. The 
population seemed to be composed entirely of dismounted hussars. 
All this will be remedied when the city is two y(5ars older, and 
Portsmouth Square boasts a pave as elegant as that on the dollar 
side of Broadway. 

The severe weather occasioned a great deal of sickness, espe- 
cially among those who led an exposed life. The city overflowed 
with people, and notwithstanding buildings were continually gro\\- 
ing up like mushrooms, over night, hundreds who arrived wert 
obliged to lodge in tents, with which the summits of the hills were 
covered. Fever-and-ague and dysentery were the prevailing com- 
plaints, the great prevalema of which was owing undoubtedly to 



WINTER WEATHER. 807 

exposure and an irregular habit of life. An associatioli was form- 
3d to relieve those in actual want, many of the wealthiest and 
• most influential citizens taking an honorable part in the matter. 
Many instances of lamentable destitution were by this means 
brought to light. Nearly all the hospitals of the place were soon 
filled, and numbers went to the Sandwich Islands to recrait. The 
City Hospital, a large, well ventilated and regulated establish- 
ment, contained about fifty patients. The attending physician 
described to me several cases of nearly hopeless lunacy which had 
come under his care, some of them produced by disappointment 
and ill-luck, and others by sudden increase of fortune. Poor 
human nature ! 

In the midst of the rains, ve were greeted one morning with a 
magnificent spectacle. The wind had blown fiu-iously during the 
night, with violent falls of rain, but the sun rose in a spotless sky, 
revealing the Coast Mountains across the* bay wrapped in snow 
half-way down their sides. For two days they wore their dazzling 
crown, which could be seen melting away hour by hour, from their 
ridges and cloven ravines. This was the only snow I saw while in 
San Francisco ; only once did I notice any appearance of frost. 
The grass was green and vigorous, and some of the more hardy 
plants in blossom ; vegetables, it is well known, flourish with equal 
luxuriance during the winter season. At one of the restaurants, 
I was shown some remarkable specimens of the growth of Califor- 
nia soil — potatoes, weighing from one to five pounds each ; beets 
and turnips eight inches in diameter, and perfectly sweet and 
sound ; and large, silver-skinned onions, whose delicate flavor the 
most inveterate enemy of this honest vegetable could not but have 
relished. A gentleman who visited the port of Bodega, informed 
me that he saw in the garden of Capt. Smith, the owner of the 



308 ELDORADO. 

place, pea-vines which had produced their third crop from the 
same root in one summer. 

As the rains drove the deer and other animals down from the • 
mountains, game of all kinds became abundant. Fat elks and 
splendid black-tailed does hung at the doors of all the butcher-: 
shops, and wild geese, duck and brant, were brought into the 
city by the wagon-load. " Grizzly bear steak," became a choice 
dish at the eating-houses ; I had the satisfaction one night of 
eating a slice of one that had weighed eleven hundred pounds 
The flesh was of a bright red color, very solid, sweet, and nutri- 
tious ; its flavor was preferable to that of the best pork. The 
large" native hare, a specimen of which occasionally found its way 
to the restaurants, is nowise inferior to that of Europe. As an 
illustration of the money which might be spent in procuring a 
meal no better than an ordinary hotel-dinner at home, I may 
mention that a dinner for fifteen persons, to which I was invited, 
at the " Excelsior," cost the giver of it $225. 

The effect of a growing prosperity and some little taste of luxury 
was readily seen in the appearance of the business community of 
San Francisco. The slouched felt hats gave way to narrow-brim- 
med black beavers ; flannel shii-ts were laid aside, and white 
linen, though indifferently washed, appeared instead ; dress and 
frock coats, of the fashion of the previous year in the Atlantic 
side, came forth from trunks and sea-ch'^sts ; in short, a San 
Francisco merchant was almost as smooth and spruce in his out- 
ward appearance as a merchant anywhere else. The hussar 
boot, however, was obliged to be worn, and a variation of thtj 
Mexican sombrero — a very convenient and becoming head-piece— 
3ame into fashion among the younger class. 

The steamers which arrived at this time, brought large quan- 



SAN FRANCISCO NEWSPAPERS. 309 

titles of newspapers from all parts of the Atlantic States. Tho 
speculation which had been so successful at first, was ccmplctely 
overdone ; there was a glut in the market, in consequence whereof 
newspapers came down to fifty and twenty-five cents apiece. The 
leading journals of New-York, New-Orleans and Boston were cried 
at every street-cf-rner. The two papers established in the place 
issued editions " for tne Atlantic Coast," at the sailing of every 
steamer for Panama. The offices were invaded by crowds of pur- 
chasers, and the slow hand-presses in use could not keep pace 
with the demand. The profits of these journals were almost in- 
credible, when contrasted with their size and the amount of their 
circ'jlation. Neither of them failed to count then* gains at the 
rate of $75,000 a year, clear profit. 

My preparations for leaving San Francisco, were made with the 
regret that I could not remain longer and see more of the won- 
derful growth of the Empire of the West. Yet I was fortunate 
in witnessing the most peculiar and interesting stages of its pro- 
gress, anl I took my departure in the hope of returning at some 
future day to view the completion of these magnificent beginnings 
The world's history has no page so marvellous as that which has 
just been turned in California. 



CHAPTER m. 

SOCIETY IN CALIFORNIA. 

There are some features of Society m California, which I have 
hitherto fai'ed to touch upon in my narrative, hut which deserve a 
passing notice before I* take my final leave of that wonderful land 
The direct effect of the state of things growing out of the discovery 
of the placers, was to 'develop new qualities and traits of character, 
not in single individuas but in every individual of the entire com- 
munity — traits frequently most unlooked-for in those who exhibited 
them in the most marked degree. Society, therefore, was for the 
time casi; into new forms, or, rather, deprived of any fixed form. A 
man, on coming to California, could no more expect to retain his 
old nature unchano-ed, than he cou.;5 regain m Lis lungs the a'u he 
had inhaled on the ^ txantic shore. 

The most immediate an*? striking change which came upon the 
greater portion of t^e emigrants was an increase of activity, and 
propi-rtionately, of reckless and daring spirit. It was curious to 
see how men hitherto noted for their prudence and caution to'/k 
'sudden leave of those qualities, to all appearance^ yet only pros- 
pered the more thereby. Perhaps there was at bottom a vein of 
keen, shrewd calculation, which directed their seemingly heedless 
movements ; certain it is, at least, that for a long time the rashest 



THE EMIGRANTS. Cll 

speculators were the most fortunate. It was this fact, no doubt, 
that seemed so alarming to persons newly-arrived, and gave rise 
to unnumbered predictions of the speedy and ruinous crash of the 
whole business fabric of San Francisco. But nothinf' is more con- 
tagious than this spirit of daring and independent action, aid the 
most doleful prophets were, ere long, swallowed up in the Ram*} 
whirlpool against which they had warned others. 

The emigrants who arrive in California, verv soon divide into 
two distinct classes. About two-thirds, or possibly three-fc urths 
of them are active, hopeful and industrious. They feel this sin- 
gular intoxication of society, and go to work at something, no 
matter what, by which they hope to thrive. The remaining por 
tion see everything " through a glass, darkly." Their first bright^ 
anticipations are unrealized ; the horrid winds of San Fi-ancisco 
during the dry season, chill and unnerve them : or, if they go to 
the placers, the severe labor and the ill success of inexperienced 
hands, completes their disgust. They commit a multitude of sins 
in the shape of curses upon every one who has written or ^^poken 
favorably of California. Some of them return home without having 
seen the country at all, and others, even if they obtain profitable 
situations, labor without a will. It is no place for a slow, an 
over-cautious, or a despouding man. The emigrant should be 
willing to work, not only at one business, but many, if need be ; 
the grumbler or the idler had far better stay at home. 

It cannot be denied that- the veiy activity of California society 
created a spirit of excitement which frequently led to dangerous 
excesses. The habits of the emigrants, never, even at home, very 
slow and deliberate, branched into all kinds of wild offshoots, tho 
necessary effect of the sudden glow and expansion which they ex- 
perienc3d Those who retained their health seemed to revel in an 



312 



ELDORADO. 



exuberance of animal spiritSj which carried them with scarce a jar 
over barriers and obstacles that would have brought others to a 
full stand. There was something exceedingly hearty, cordial and 
encomaging in the character of social intercourse. The ordinary 
forms of courtesy were flung aside with a bluntness of good-fel- 
lowship infinitely preferable, under the cii'cum stances. I was 
constantly reminded of the stories of Northern History — of the 
stout Vikings and Jarls who exulted in their very passions and 
made their heroes of those who were most jovial at the feast and 
most easily kindled with the rage of battle. Indeed, it required 
but little effort of the imagmation to revive those iron ages, when 
the rugged gold-diggers,' with their long hair and unshorn beards, 
were grouped around some mountain camp-fire, revelling in ihe 
ruddy light and giving full play to a mirth so powerful and pro- 
found that it would not have shamed the Berserkers. 

The most common excesses into which the Californians run, are 
drinking and gambling. I say drinking, rather than drunkenness, 
for I saw very little of the latter. But a single case came under 
my observation while I was in the gold region. The man's friends 
took away his money and deposited it in the hands of the Alcalde, 
ilien tied him to a tree where they left him till he became sober. 
The practice of drinking, nevertheless, was widely prevalent, and 
its eff"ects rendered more destructive by the large amount of bad 
liquor which was sent into the country. Gambling, in spite of a 
universal public sentiment against it, grew and flourished ; the 
disappointment and ruin of many emigrants were owing to its ex 
istence* The gamblers themselves were in many instances men 
who had led orderly and respectable lives at home. I have heard 
some of them frankly avow that nothing would induce them to ac- 
quaint their friends and families with the nature of then- occupa.- 



THE ENERGIES OF CALIFORNIA SOCIETY. 313 

tion , thoy would soon have enough, they slid, and then they would 
wash their hands of the unclean stain, and go home to lead more 
honorable dives. But alas ! it is not so easy to wash out the 
memory of self-degradation. If these men have in nuth any sen- 
timent of honor remaining, every com of the wealth they have 
noarded will awaken a shameful consciousness cl iiie base and un- 
pjanly business by whicn it was obtained 

In spite, however, of all tl^ese dissipating and disorganizing in- 
fluences, the main stock of society was sound, vigorous and pro- 
gressive. The rank shoots, while they might have. slightly weak- 
ened the trunk, only showed the abundant life of the root. In 
short, without wishing to be understood as apologizing in any de- 
gree for the evils which existed* it was evident that had the Cali- 
fornians been more cool, grave and deliberate in their tempera- 
ment — h^d they lacked the fiery energy and impulsive spirit 
which pushed them irresistibly forward — the dangers which sur- 
rounded them at the outset would have been far more miminent. 
Besides, this energy did not run at random ; it was in the end 
directed by an enlightened experience, and that instinct of Right, 
which is the strength and security of a self-governed People. 
Hundreds of instances might be adduced to show that the worst 
passions of our nature were speedily developed in the air of Cali- 
fornia, but the one grand lesson of the settlement and organiza 
tion of the country is of a character that ennobles the race. 

The unanimity with which all united in this work — the frank- 
ness with which the old prejudices of sect and party were dis- 
.^laimed — the freshly-awakened pride of country, which made 
every citizen jealously and disinterestedly anxious that she should 
acquit herself honorably in the eyes of the Nation at large — formed 
a spectacle which must clahn our entire admiration. In view of 
14 



514 EI DORADO. 

ilie splendid future which is opening fcr California it insures her 
a stable foundation on which to build the superstructure of her 
wealth and power. 

After what has bedh said, it wi/" appear natural that California 
should be the most democratic country in the world. The prac- 
tical equality of all the members of a community, whatever might 
be the wealth, intelligence or profession of each, was never before 
thoroughly demonstrated. Dress was no guage of respectability, 
and no honest occupation, however menial in its character, affect- 
ed a man's stajiding. Lawyers, physicians and ex-professors dug 
cellars, drove ox-teams, sawed wood and carried luggage ; while 
men who had been Army privates, sailors, cooks or day laborers 
were at the head of profitable establishments and not infrequently 
assisted iu some of the minor details of Government. A man 
who would consider his fellow beneath hira, on account of his ap- 
pearance or occupation, would have had some difficulty in living 
peaceably in California. The secm-ity of the country is owing, in 
no small degree, to this plain, practical development of what the. 
French reverence as an* abstraction, under the name of Fraternite. 
To sum up all in three words. Labor is respectable : may it 
never be otherwise, while a grain of gold is left to glitter in Cali- 
fornian soil ! 

I have dwelt with the more earnestness on these features of 
Society because they do not seem to be fully appreciated on thi? 
side of the Continent. I cannot take leave, in the regular course 
of my narrative, of a land where I found so much ir Nature to 
admire and enjoy, without attempting to gi/e some geneis-1, though 
impel feet view of Man, as he appeared unde.r thase new and won- 
derful influences. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

LEAVING SAN FRANCISCO. 

The rainy season, by rendering further travel very unsatisfactory 
ajiil laborious, if not impossible, put an end to my wanderings in 
California, which, in fact, had already extended beyond the period I 
had originally fixed for my stay. I was therefore anxious to set out 
on my homeward journey through Mexico, to which I looked for- 
ward with glowing anticipations. Rather than wait for the steamer 
of Jan. 1st., I decided to take one of the sailing packets up for 
Mazatlan, as the trip down the coast is usually made in from ten 
to fifteen days. The most promising chance was that of a Peru- 
vian brigautine belonging to a German house, which I was assured 
would sail on the 15th of December. A heavy gale coming up at 
the time put this out of the question. I waited until the 17th, 
when I went on board, determined to set foot no more in San 
Franciscan mud. The brigantine — which bore the name of 
Iquiquena, from the Peruvian port of Iquiqua — was a small, 
rakish craft, built at the Island of Chiloe for a smuggler in the 
opium trade ; having been afterwards purchased by a house in 
Callao, she still retained the Peruvian colors. 

In her low, confined cabin, containing eight berths, which were 
reached by a dark and crooked well, opening on the deck near the 



816 ELDORADO 

rudder, seven passengers were crowded — Americans, Mexicans and 
Venezuelans — besides the captain, mate, supercargo and steward 
who were Germans, as were likewise the greater part of the crew 
To complete the circle that met around our little table to discuss 
the invariable daily dinner of rice soup and boiled beef, I must 
not omit mentioning a Chinese dog, as eccentric in his behavior 
as the Celestials on shore. The captain and crew did nothing tc 
falsify the national reputation for tardiness and delay. In our 
case the jpoco tiempo of the Chagres boatmen was outdone. Seven 
days were we doomed to spend in the Bay, before the almost 
hopeless conjunction of wind, tide, crew, passengers and vessel 
started us from our anchorage. On getting aboard, the captain 
declared everything to be in readiness, except the wood and water, 
which would be forthcoming next day. Having some experience 
of German deliberation, I at once resigned myself to three days* 
delay. The next day was stormy and rough ; on the second, two 
casks of water were brought on board ; the third was stormy; the 
wood was purchased on the fourth ; and on the fifth, the sailors 
quarreled about their pay and refused to go to sea. 

While we thus lay in the harbor, just inside the Rincon, trying 
TO bear with patience a delay so vexatious, one of the terrible 
south-east gales came on. The wind gradually rose through the 
night, and its violence was heard and felt in the whistle of the 
rigging and the uneasy roll of our brigantine. When morning 
da^raed, the sky was as gray and cold as an arch of granite, 
except towards the south-east, where a streak of dun light seemed 
Iik6 the opening through which the whole fury of the blast was 
poured upon the bay. The timbers of the shipping creaked as 
they were tossed about by the lashed and driven waters ; the rig- 
ging humm<^d and roared till the ropes were ready to snap with 



A GALE AND. A FIRE. 317 

the violence of their vibrations. There was little rain accom- 
panying the gale, but every drop stung like a shot Seen under 
a sky and through an atmosphere from which all sensation of light 
and warmth was gone, the town and hills of San Francisco 
appeared as if cast in bronze, so cold, dark, and severe were their 
outlines. The blackest thunder-gusts I ever saw, had nothing so 
savage and relentless in their expression. All day and night, 
having dragged our anchor and drifted on the shoals, we lay 
thumping heavily with every swell, while a large barque, with 
three anchors out, threatened to stave in our bows. Towards 
morning the rain increased, and in the same proportion the gale 
abated. During its prevalence five or six vessels were injured, 
and two or three entirely lost. 

The sailors having been pacified, the* supercargo taken on board, 
and the brig declared ready for sea, we were detained another day 
on account of the anchor sticking fast in the mud, and still anothei 
through lack of a favorable wind. Finally, on the eighth day 
after going on board, the brig was warped through the crowded 
vessels, and took the first of the ebb tide, with a light breeze, tc 
run out of the harbor. 

I went on deck, in the misty daybreak, to take a parting look 
at the town and its amphitheatric hills. As I turned my faoe 
shoreward, a little spark appeared through the fog. Suddenly it 
shot up into a spiry flame, and at the same instant I heard the 
sound of gongs, bells and trumpets, and the shouting of human 
voices. The calamity, predicted and dreaded so long in advance^ 
that men ceased to think of it, had come at last — San Francisco 
was on fire ! The blaze increased with fearful rapidity. In 
fifteen minutes, it had risen into a broad, flickering column, mak- 
ing all the shore, the misty air and the water ruddy as with another 



318 ELDORADO. 

sunrise. The sides of new frame houses, scattered thronirh tlte 
town, tents high up on the hills, and the hulls and listless sails of 
vessels in the bay, gleamed and sparkled in the thick atmosphere. 
Meanwhile the roar and tumult swelled, and above the ciang of 
gongs and the cries of the populace, I could hear the crackling 
of blazing timbers, and the smothered sound of falling roofs. 1 
climbed into the rigging and watched the progress of the confla- 
gration As the flames leaped upon a new dwelling, there was a 
sudden whirl of their waving volumes — an embracing of the frail 
walls in their relentless clasp — and, a second afterwards, from roof 
and rafter and foundation-beam shot upward a jet of fire, steady and 
intense at first, but surging ofi" into spiral folds and streamers, as 
the timbers were parted and fell. 

For more than hour, 'while we were tacking in the channel 
between Yerba Buena Island and the anchorage, there was no 
apparent check to the flames. Before passing Fort Montgomery, 
however, we heard several exDlosions in quick succession, and 
conjectured that vigorous measures had been taken to prevent 
further destruction. When at last, with a fair breeze and bright 
sky, we were dashing past the rock of Alcatraz, the red column 
had sunk away to a smouldering blaze, and nothing but a heavy 
canopy of smoke remained to tell the extent of the conflagration. 
The Grolden Gate was again before us, and I looked through its 
mountain-walls on the rolling Pacific, with full as pleasant an 
excitement as I had looked inwards, four months before, eager +i 
catch the first glimpse of the new Eldorado. 

The breeze freshened, the swell increased, and as the breakers 
of the entrance receded behind us, we entered the rough sea left 
by a recent gale. In trying to haul close to the wind, the captain 
discovered that the rudder was broken. Immediately afterwards, 



WE PUT BACK IN DISTRESS. 



319 



there was a cry of " a leak !" and from the terror on the faces >i 
the mate and sailors, I thought that nothing less than a dozen 
blankets could stop the opening. The pumps were rigged in haste, 
but little water was found in the hold, and on examination it ap- 
peared that the leak, which was in the bow, was caused by the 
springing apart of the planking from a violent blow on the rocks 
which the brig had received a short time previous. The captain 
decided at once to return, much to our disappointment, as the 
wind was fair for Mazatlan. We were twenty miles from the en- 
trance, and after beating up until next morning found ourselves 
just as far off as ever. The wind continuing fair, the captain a< 
length listened to us, and turned again towards Mazatlan. A 
change of wind again changed his mind, and all that day and the 
next we tacked backhand forth — sometimes running out towards 
the Farellones, sometimes close under the lee of the Punta de Los 
Reyes, and again driven down the coast as far, on the other side of 
the entrance AVhat our hvirr gained in tackins;, she lost in lee- 
way, and as the rudder hung by a single pintle, she minded her 
helm badly. On the afternoon of the third day we were becalmed, 
but drifted into the entrance of the Gate with the flood-tide, in 
company with fifteen vessels, that had been waiting outside. A 
light southern breeze springing up, enabled us to reach the an- 
chorage west of Clark's Point in the night ; so that next morning, 
after landing on the beach and walking through a mile of deep 
mud, I was once more in San Francisco. 

I hastened immediately to Portsmouth Square, the scene of the 
conflagration. All its eastern front, with the exception of the 
Delmonico Restaurant at the corner of Clay-st. was gone, together 
with the entire side of the block, on Washington-st. The Eldo- 
rado, Parker House, Denison's Exchange and the United States 



320 ELDORADO. 

Cotfee House — forming, collectively, the great rendezvcu3 of the 
city, where everybody could be found at some time of the day — 
were among the things that had been. The fronts of the Veran- 
dah, Aguila de Oro, and other hells on Washington-st. were 
blackened and charred from the intense heat to which they were 
subjected, and from many of the buildings still hung the blankets 
by means of which they were saved. Three days only had elapsed 
since the fire, yet in that time all the rubbish had been cleared 
away, and the frames of several houses were half raised. All over 
the burnt space sounded one incessant tumult of hammers, axep 
and saws. In one week after the fire, the Eldorado and Denison'e 
Exchange stood completely roofed and weatherboarded, and would 
soon be ready for occupation. The Parker House was to be re- 
built of brick, and the timbers of the basement floor were already 
laid. The Exchange had been contracted for at $15,000, to be 
finished in two weeks, under penalty of forfeiting $150 for every 
additional day. In three weeks from the date of the fire, it was 
calculated that all the buildings destroyed would be replaced by 
new ones, of better construction. The loss by the conflagration 
was estimated at $1,500,000 — an immense sum, when the number 
and character of the buildings destroyed, is considered. This did 
not include the loss in a business way, which was probably 
$500,000 more. The general business of the place, however, had 
not been injured. The smaller gambling hells around and near 
Portsmouth Square were doing a good business, now that the 
head-quarters of the profession were destroyed. 

Notwithstanding there was no air stirring at the time, the pro- 
gress of the fire, as described by those who were on the spot, had 
something terrific in its character. The canvas partitions of rooms 
ehrivelled away like paper in the breath of the flames, and the dry 



INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLAGRATION 321 

resinous wood of the outsr walls radiated a heat so intense that 
houses at some distance were obliged to be kept wet to prevent 
their ignition. Nothing but the prompt measures of the city au- 
thorities and a plentiful supply of blankets in the adjacent stores, 
saved all the lower part of the city from being swept away. The 
' houses in the path of the flames were either blown up or felled like 
trees, by cutting off the ground timbsrs with axes, and pulling over 
the structure with ropes fastened to the roof. The Spanish 
merchants on Washington street, and ^others living in adobe 
houses in the rear, were completely stupified by the danger, and 
refused to have their buildings blown up. No one listened t' 
them, and five minutes afterwards, adobes, timbers and merchan- 
dize went into the air together. 

A very few persons, out of the thousands present, did the work 
of arresting the flames. At the time of the most extreme danger, 
hundreds of idle spectators refused to lend a hand, unless they 
were paid enormous wages. One of the principal merchants, I 
was told, offered a dollar a bucket for water, and made use of 
several thousand buckets in saving his property. All the owners 
of property worked incessantly, and were aided by their friends, 
but at least five thousand spectators stood idle in the plaza. I 
hope their selfish indifference is not a necessary offshoot of society 
here. It is not to be disputed, however, that constant familiarity 
with the shifting of Fortune between her farthest extremes, blunt? 
very much the sympathies of the popular heart. 

The Grerman house of whom T had obtained a parage *br Maz- 
atlan, was burned out, but the supercargo soon discovered itss 
whereabouts. A committee of sea-captains, appointed to ex- 
amine the brigantine, reported that she could be made ready for 
«j«a in three or fcur days. Und:;r th^se circumstances the own 



822 ELDORADO 

ers refused to refund more than half the passage-money, which 
was $75, to those of us who chose to leave the vessel. My time 
was now growing precious, and I had no doubt the three day? 
spoken of would be extended to as many weeks. I therefore went 
to the office of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, where, as 1 
expected, every ticket had been taken weeks before, and neither 
love, money nor entreaty seemed likely to procure one. Mr. 
Robinson, the Agent, however, with a prompt kindness I shall not 
soon forget, gave me a passage to Mazatlan, with the understand- 
ing that I would have no berth and probably little sleeping-room 
The steamer was to sail on the first of January, at daybreak. 
After coming upon my friends like an apparition— they having 
supposed me to be far out at sea — I spent two days on shore, 
housed up from rain and mud, and finally took a boat for the 
steamer on the last evening of the year 1849. It was during the 
prevalence of the spring-tides, and no boat could be had to go 
from the Long Wharf to the anchorage off the Rincon, for less 
than $4. I had two oarsmen for myself and blankets ; it was 
near the middle of the ebb-tide, and we ran inside the shelter of 
the point till we were abreast of the steamer. She was now about 
three-quarters of a mile distant, but a foaming, raging flood was 
between us. Several large boats, manned by four and six oars- 
mon were struggling in the midst of the current, and borne away 
in spite of themselves. One of my men was discouraged, and 
wanted to turn back, but there was a majority against him. I 
took good hold of the tiller-ropes, the men stripped to their flan- 
nel shirts, planted their feet firmly against the ribs of the boat, 
and wo dashed into the teeth of the tide. We were thrown and 
tossed about like a toy ; the spray flew over us, and the strongest 
f^fforts of the men did not soem to move us an inch. After half 



A PULL FOR THE STEAMER. 323 

an hour of hard work, during which we continually lost groand. 
we came alongside of a vessel and made fast. At least a dozen 
other craft could be seen struggling out after us, but they all fell 
away, some of them drifting two or three miles before they could 
make a halt. We lay for nearly two hours, waiting for the height 
of the ebb to pass, but the flood still foamed and rushed, dashing 
against the prows of vessels and boiling around their sterns, with 
an incessant roar. At last, another boat with two passengers 
came down upon us in the darkness ; we joined crews, leaving one 
of the boats behind, and set out again with four oars. It was 
pitchy dark, with a rain dashing in our faces. "We kept on, to- 
wards the light of the steamer, gaining about a yard a minute, till 
we reached her lee gangway. 

I unrolled my blankets and put in a preemption claim for one 
end of the cabin-table. Several other berthless persons occupied 
the benches on either hand and the iron grating below, which 
printed their sides like a checker-board ; and so we passed the night 
The last boat-loads came out in the morning ; the parting gun 
echoed back from the Island of Yerba Buena ; the paddles moved ; 
San Francisco slid away from us, and the Golden Gate opened 
again ; the swells of the Pacific rolled forward to meet :is ; the 
coast wheeled around and fronted our larboard side ; rain and fog 
were behind us, and a speck of clear blue far ahead — and so we 
gped southward, to the tropics, and homeward ! 

The Oregon's freight, both of gold and passengers, was the 
most important which had ever left San Francisco. Of the for- 
mer, we had about two millions of dollars on board ; of the latter, 
the Congressmen and Senators elect, Col. Fremont, Dr. Gwin, 
Gilbert and Wright, together with a (Score of the prominent 
merchants and moneyed men of San Francisco, and several officers 



324 ELDORADO. 

of the Army and Navy. Mr. Butler King was returning from 
his sui-vey of the country ; Major Rucker, whom I have already 
mentioned in connection with the overland emigration, and Major 
Cross, recently from Oregon, were also on board. The character" 
of our little community was very different from that which came' 
up on the Panama ; the steamer was under better regulations, and 
at meal-time, especially, there was no disgraceful exhibition of 
(for want of a better word) swinishness, such as I witnessed on the 
former boat. We had a mild and spring-like temperature during 
the trip, and blue skies, after doubling Cape Conception. 

We touched at Santa Barbara on the third morning out. The 
night had been foggy, and we ran astray in the channel between 
the Island of Santa Rosa and the mainland, making the coast about 
twenty-five miles south of the town. I did not regret this, as it 
gave me an opportunity of seeing the point where the Coast Moun- 
tains come down to the sea, forming a narrow pass, which can only 
be traveled at low tide, between the precipice and the surf. It is 
generally known as the Rincon, or Corner — a common Spanish 
term for the jutting end of a mountain ; in a Californian ballad 
(written before seeing the country,) I had made it the scene of an 
imaginary incident, giving the name of Paw del Mar — the Pass 
of the Sea — to the spot. I was delighted to find so near a corre 
spondence between its crags of black rock, its breakers and reaches 
of spray-wet sand, and the previous picture in my imagination. 
The village of Santa Barbara is charmingly situated, on a warm 
slope above the roadstead, down to which stretch its fields of wheat 
and barley. Behind it, on a shelf of the mountain, stands the 
Mission, or Episcopal Residence of Santa Barbara, its white 
arched corridors and tall square towers brightly relieved against the 
pine forests in the distance. Above and beyond all, the Moun- 



VOYAGE DOWN THE COAST. 325 

tain of Santa Ynez lifts its bold and sterile ramparts, like an 
unscaleable barrier against the inland. 

We lay-to in the road for several hours, shipping supplies. The 
shore was so near that we could watch the vaqueros, as they gal- 
loped among the herds and flung their lariats over the horns of the 
doomed beeves. An immense whale lay stranded on the beach 
like the hull of some unlucky vessel. As we steamed down the 
coast, in the afternoon, we had a magnificent view of the snowy 
range which divides the rich vine-land of Los Angeles from the 
Tulare Plains. At daybreak the next morning we were in the 
harbor of San Diego, which was little changed since my visit in 
August ; the hills were somewhat greener, and there were a few 
more tents pitched around the hide-houses. Thence away and 
down the rugged Peninsula — past the Bay of Sebastian Viscaino, 
the headland of San Lorenzo and the white deserts of sand that 
stretch far inland — around the jagged pyramids and hollow caverns 
of Cape San Lucas — beyond the dioramic glimpse of San Jose, and 
mto the mouth of the Californian Gulf, where we were struck aback 
by a norther that strained our vessel's sinews and troubled the sto- 
machs of her passengers. The next morning we groped about in 
the fog, hearing a breaker here and seeing a rock there, but the 
captain at last hit upon the right clue and ran us out of the 
maze into a gush of dazzling sunshine and tropic heat, which lay 
upon the islands and palmy shores of Mazatlan Harbor, 



CHAPTER XXXIL 



MAZATLAN. 



I TOOK leave of my friends and mess-mates, receiving many 
gloomy predictions and warnings of danger from the most of them, 
and went ashore with the captain, in the ship's boat. The water 
is very shallow, from within a mile of the landing, and abounds 
with rocks which rise nearly to the surface. Two of these are 
called The Turtles, from an incident which is told at the expense 
of an officer of the British Navy. He had just reached Mazatlan, 
and on his first visit to the shore, knowing that the waters con- 
tained turtle, had provided himself with rope and harpoon, and 
took his station in the bow of the boat. The men rowed for 
some time without interruption, but suddenly, at a whisper from 
the officer, backed their oars and awaited the throw. The har- 
poon was swung quickly to give it impetus ; the water flew as it 
descended ; " hit !" shouted the officer. And it was hit — so hard 
that the harpoon banged back again fi:om the round face of the 
rock. 

We landed on the beach, where we were instantly surrounded 
with the peons of the Custom House, in white shirts and panta- 
loons. The baggage was carried under the portico of an adobe 
house opposite the landing, where it was watched by one of the 
officials. Mr Mott,of Mazatlan, who came passen<];er in the Ore* 



A CHINESE BONIFACE. 



gon, was well-known to all the authorities of the place, and 1 
found, after losing much time in getting a permit to have my lug 
gage passed, that it had all been sent to his house without ex- 
amination. My next care was to find a lodging-place. There was 
the visson^ a sort of native caravanserai; the Ballo de Oro^ 
(G-olden Ball,) a tavern after the Mexican fashion, which ia 
comfortless enough ; and finally the Fonda de Canton^ a Chinese 
hotel, kept by Luen-Sing, one of the most portly and dignified of 
all the Celestials. His broad face, nearly equal in circumference 
to the gono; which Chin-Ling, the waiter, beat three times a day 
at the door, beamed with a paternal regard for his customers. 
His oblique eyes, in spite of all tbeir twinklings after the main 
chance, looked a good-natured content, and his capacious girth 
spoke too well of fat living to admit of a doubt about the quality 
of his table. There was no resisting the attractions of Luen- 
Sing's hotel, as advertised in his own person, and thither, accord- 
ingly, I went. 

The place was overrun by our passengers, who nearly exhausted 
the supplies of eggs, milk and vegetables in the market. The 
Fonda de Canton was thronged ; all the rooms were filled with 
tables, and gay groups, like children enjoying a holiday, were clus- 
tered in the palm -shaded court-yard. Chin-Ling could not half 
perform the commands ; he was called from every side and scolded 
by everybody, but nothing could relax the gravity of his queer 
yellow face. The sun was intensely hot until near evening, and I 
made myself quite feverish by running after luggage, permits and 
passports. I was not sorry when the gun of the steamer, at dusk, 
signalized her departure, and I was left to the company and hos- 
pitalities of my friend Luen-Sing. After the monte players had 
closed their bank in one of the rooms and the customers had with- 



328 ELDORADO. 

drawn, Chin-Lmg carried in a small cot and made me a very 
good bed, on which I slept nearly as soundly as if it had been soft 
plank. 

I took a ramble about the city in the clear coolness of the morn- 
ing. Its situation is very peculiar and beautiful. Built at the 
foot of a bold hUl, it stands on the neck of a rocky, volcanic headland, 
fronting the sea on each side, so that part of the city looks up the 
Californian Grulf and part down the coast towards San Bias. The 
houses are stone, of a white, pink or cream-color, with heavy 
arched entrances and cool court-yards within. The contrast of 
their clear, bright fronts, with the feathery tops of the cocoa-palm, 
seen under » dazzling sky, gives the city a rich oriental character, 
reminding me of descriptions of Smyrna. The houses are mostly 
a single story in height, but in the principal street there are several 
magnificent buildings of two stories, with massive cornices and 
large balconied windows. The streets are clean and cheerful, and 
the principal shops are as large, showy and tastefully arranged as 
those of Paris or New York. At night, especially, when they are 
brilliantly lighted and all the doors and windows are opened, dis- 
playing the gaudy shawls, scarfs and sarapes . within ; when the 
whole population is out to enjoy the pleasant air, the men in theii 
white shirts and the women in their bewitching rebosas ; when 
some native band is playing, just far enough distant to drown the 
discordance ; when the paper lanterns of the fruit- vend(^rs gleam 
at every corner, and the aristocratic seiioritas smoke their paper 
cigars in the balconies above — Mazatlan is decidedly the gayest 
and liveliest little city on the Continent. 

But I was speaking of my morning stroll. The sun was already 
shining hotly in the streets, and the mellow roar of the surf on the 
northern side of the promontory tempted my steps in that direct 



THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE CALIFORNIAN GULF. 329 

tion. 1 threaded the narrow alleys in the suburbs of the town^ 
lined with cactus hedges, behind which stood the thatched bamboo 
huts of the natives, exactly similar to those on the Isthmus 
G-angs of men, naked to the waist, were at work, carrying on their 
heads large faggots of dye-wood, with which some of the vessels in 
the harbor were being freighted. I reached a shaded cove among 
the rocks, where I sat and looked out on the dark-blue expanse 
of the Gulf. The air was as transparent as crystal and the 
breakeis rolled in with foam and delightful freshness, to bathe the 
shelly sand at my feet. Three craggy islands off the shore looked 
to be within gunshot, owing to the purity of the atmosphere, yet 
their scarred sides and ragged crests were clothed in the purple oi 
distance. The region about the mouth of the Gulf of California 
enjoys an unvarying clearness of climate, to which there is pro- 
bably no parallel on the earth. At Cape San Lucas, the rising 
and setting of a star is manifest to the naked eye. Two or three 
years frequently pass without a drop of rain. There is, however, 
a season of about a week's duration, occurring in some of the 
winter months, when the soil is kept continually moist from the 
atmosphere. Not a cloud is to be seen ; the sun is apparently aa 
bright as ever ; yet a fine, gauzy film of moisture pervades the air, 
settles gradually on the surface of the earth and performs the ser- 
vice of rain. 

I saw an interesting picture one evening, in front of the Theatre. 
A large band was stationed near the door, where they performed 
waltzes and polkas in excellent style — an idsa no doubt derived 
from " Scudder's Balcony" or the gambling-hells of San Francisco. 
It had the effect, at least, to draw a dense crowd of the lowor 
orders to the place, and increase the business of the traders in 
fruits and drinks. A military band, of trumpets aJone, marched 



330 ELDORADO 

np and down the principal street, blowing long blasts of piereino: 
sound that affected one like the shock of an electro-galvanic bat- 
tery Soldiers were grouped around the door of the Theatre, with 
^stacked arms, and the tables of dealers in fruit and provisions were 
ranged along the walls. Over their braziers of charcoal simmered 
the pans oi maiiteca^ (lard, J near which stood piles of tortillas and 
dishes of fowl mixed with chili Colorado^ ready to be served up at 
a medio the plate. Bundles of sugar-cane were heaped upon the 
ground, and oranges, bananas, and other fruits spread upon mats 
beside which their owners sat. There were tables covered with 
porous earthern jars, containing cool and refreshing drinks made 
of orange juice, cocoa milk, barley flour, and other wholesome in- 
gredients. 

The market-place presents a most picturesque appearance, 
whether by day or night. It is a small square, on the steep side 
of the hill, reached by narrow alleys, in which are to be found all 
the articles most in demand by the lower classes — earthenware 
after the old Aztec fashion, flaming calicoes, sarapes, rebosas and 
broad Guayaquil sombreros. The place is filled with square, 
umbrella-like stands or canopies of palm-leaves, under which are 
spread on the ground all kinds of vegetables, fruit and grain that 
grow in the vicinity, to be had at low prices. Among the fruits I 
noticed a plump green berry, with a taste like a strawberry and 
gooseberry combined ; they were called by the natives, arellanes. 
At night, the square was lighted by flaring lamps or torches of 
gome resinous wood. 

The proximity of California had increased in a striking manner 
the growth and activity of Mazatlan. Houses were going up in 
all parts of the towns, and the prices of articles in the shops were 
little below the San Francisco standard. At a tailorinof establish- 



PREPARING TO START. 331 

raent I was asked $20 for a pair of Mexican calzoneros, and $2ri 
for a cloth traveling jacket — sums entirely above my reach. I 
purchased a good Panama hat for $5, and retaining my suit of 
corduroy and shirt of blue flannel, set about hunting for a mule , 
There were about fifty emigrants in the place, who had come in a 
few days previous, from Durango ; but their animals had all been 
disposed of to the Mexican traders, at very low prices. I was di- 
rected to the meson^ where I found a number far sale, in the cor- 
ral. The owners offered to sell me a cabaUo sillado fa saddled 
and bridled horse) for $100, or a tolerable mule for $80, but 
seemed to think I would prefer afrisone, (an American horso,) at 
$100, unsaddled. After riding a number of mules around the 
corral, I made choice of a small brown one, for which $45 was 
asked, but which I obtained for $30. One of the emigrants sold 
me his saddle and bj-idle for $5 ; I added a good lariat and blanket, 
and was thoroughly equipped for the journey. 

It now remained to have my passport arranged, for which the 
signature of the President of the City Council was requisite. After 
a great deal of search, I found the proper place, where a sort of 
Alcalde, who was settling a dispute between two Indians, wrote 
a visto, and directed me to call on the President, Don Luis Abioli. 
This second visit cost me several hours, but at last I succeeded in 
discovering Don Luis, who was busily engaged behind the counter 
of his grocery store, in a little building near the market-place. 
He stopped weighing sugar to affix his signature to the passport, 
received my '* mil gracias .'" with a profound bow and turned again 
to his customers. 

The emigrants expressed great astonishment at my fool-hardi- 
ness, as they termed it, in undertaking the journey through to 
Vera Cruz. These men, some of whom had come overland from 



3S2 ELDORADO 

Chihuahua and some from Matamoras, msisted most strenuously 
that I should not start alone. The Mexicans, they said, were 
robbers, to a man ; one's life, even, was not safe among them, and 
their bitter hostility to Americans would subject me to continual 
insult. " Would you believe it ?" said a tall, raw-boned Yankee ; 
" they actually rocked us !" This gentle proceeding, I found, on 
further inquiry, had been occasioned by the emigrants breaking 
their contract with their guide. I therefore determined to follow 
the plan I had adopted in California, and to believe nothing that I 
had not seen with my own eyes. " I've traveled in the country, 
and I know all about it," was the remark with which I was con- 
stantly greeted ; ^' you'll very soon find that I was right." To 
escape from the annoyance of these counsels and warnings, I has- 
tened my preparations, and was ready for departure on the second 
morning after my arrival. 

Luen-Sing, who had traveled over the road once, as far as Te- 
pic, told me I should find it toilsome but safe. The Celestials 
assisted me in packing my scanty luggage behind the saddle, and 
enjoined on me the promise of patronizing the Fonda de Canton^ 
when I returned to Mazatlan. I took my final cup of chocolate 
on the old table in the corridor, had a last talk with Chin-Ling 
about the gold-diggings, shook hands with the whole yellow-faced, 
long-eyed crew, mounted my mule and started up the main street, 
in the breathless heat of a noonday sun. I doubled the corner of 
the hill, passing the Plaza de Tories, (an arena for bull-fights,) 
and the scattering huts of the suburbs, till I reached the garita^ 
near the sea. Here, an officer of the customs, who was lounging in 
the shade, pointed out the road to the old Presidio of Mazatlan, 
which I took, feeling very warm, very lonely and a little dispirited 
at the ride of twelve hundred miles which lay before me. 



CHAPTER XXXni. 

TRAVEL IN THE TIERRA CALIENTE. 

It was a cloudless noon. The sun burned down on the sand 
and quivering sea, and the three islands in the Gulf seemed vitri- 
fying in the blue heat of the air. Riding slowly down to the arid 
level of a dried-up marsh, over which my path lay, I met an arri- 
ero, of whom I asked the distance to the Presidio. '' iVo llega 
hoy^"* said he ; " la mula no anda nada ; es muy Jlojoy (You'll not 
get there to-day ; your mule don't go at all ; " he's very lazy.") 
My heart misgave me for a moment, for his criticism of the mule 
was true ; but, seeing that my spur had as yet drawn no blood, I 
broke a stick from the thicket and belabored him with hand and 
foot. I passed a few plantations, with fenced fields, near the town, 
and afterwards took to the sandy chapparal near the sea. 

The foliage of a tropical winter, on this coast, is not very attrac- 
tive. There is a season when the growth is suspended — -when the 
bud closes, the leaf falls and the bough gathers sap for a long time 
of splendid bloom. Only the glossy green of the lemon, mango 
and sycamore remains ; the rest of the wood takes a grayish cast 
from its many half-clothed boughs, among which rise the strange, 
gloomy pillars of the cereus giganteus^ often more than forty feet 
in height. After making the circuit of a spacious bajjr, I came to 



334 ELDORADO. 

a cluster of fishing huts on the shore, about three leagues from 
Mazatlan. Beyond these the road turned among low hills, covered 
with the gray, wintry woods, as far as eye could reach. Gaudy 
parrots flew screaming among the boughs ; large brown birds, with 
hooked bills sat musing by the road, and in the shady spots, I 
heard the tender coo of the dove — the sweet emblem of peace and 
domestic affection, to which no clime is alien — which haunts all 
lands and all zones, where beats the human heart whose softer 
emotions it typifies^ 

I was toiling along" in the heat, torturing my conscience as much 
as the mule's flanks, when a couple of rancheros, riding behind 
me, came up with a good-humored greeting and proposed joining 
company. The foremost, a merry old native, of mixed blood, 
commenced using his whip on my mule's back and I soon found 
that the latter could keep up a sharp trot for an hour, without 
trouble. Thanks to my self-constituted mozo^ I reached the 
banks of the Rio Mazatlan, opposite the Presidio, two hours be- 
fore sunset. The old man invited me to pass the night at his 
ranche, which was near to hand, and I willingly complied. Ho 
turned his own beast loose, and started to a neighboring lanche, 
for an armful of oja (the fodder of maize J for my mule. Mean- 
while, I walked down to the river, to refresh myself with a bath. 
The beauty of the scene kept me from the water for a long time. 
On the opposite bank the old walls of the Presidio towered above 
the trees ; the valley, stretching away to the eastward, to a far off 
line of mountains, out of a notch in which the river found its 
way, was spotted with plantations of maize, bananas and melons. 
The rancheros were out at work, ploughing and sowing their 
grain. The fervor of the day was over, and a warm, tempered 
light was poured over the landscape. As I lay, clasped in the 



TWILIGHT CHAT, AT A RANCHE. 335 

Boft-flowing crystal of the river, the thought of another bath, on 
that very day four years before, came suddenly into my mind. It 
was my birth-day ; but on that other anniversary I had baptized 
my limbs in the sparkling surf of the Mediterranean, on the shore 
of the Roman Campagna. I went back to the ranche with that 
sensation of half-pain, half-joj which we feel when the mind and 
body are in different places. 

My mule was fed and the old man gave me a dish of frijoles, 
with three tortillas in lieu of knife and fork. Then we sat down 
in the delicious twilight, amid the beautiful repose of Nature, and 
I answered, as well as I could, the questions prompted by their 
simple curiosity. I told them about my country and its climate, 
aad the long journey I must yet make to reach it, which they 
heard with evident interest and wonder. They were anxious to 
know how a steamboat could move against the wind, for they had 
been told this was the case, by their friends in Mazatlan. The 
nearest idea of it which I could give them, was by describing it as 
a sea-cart^ with broad wheels rolling on the water. At last the 
twilight deepened into night, and I unrolled my blankets to make 
my bed. ^' You must sleep to-night en el sercno^'''' said the old 
-nan; and a beautiful, star-lit Sereno it was. " Ah," said hia 
wife, " what fine blankets ! you will sleep better than the Arch- 
bishop !" They then went to their hammocks in the hut, and I 
lay down on the earth, thanking God that the dismal forebodinga 
which accompanied me out of Mazatlan had been so happily falsi- 
fied. 

My kind host asked nothing in payment, when I saddled in the 
morning, but I insisted on giving him a trifle. " Vaya con 
Dios .'" said he, as we shook hands, " and if you go to California, 
briuir me a little piece of gold when you come Vack." I forded 



336 ELDORADO 

the river and passed through old Mazatlan — a miserable village 
of huts with a massive presidio and church in ruins. The morn- 
ing was fresh and cool, and the road lay in shade for several 
miles. My mule, having no whip behind him, was as lazy as ever 
and made me the subject of remark from all the natives who 
passed. A ranchero, carrying an escopette and three live turkeys 
slung to the saddle, before him, offered his horse in exchange. I 
refused to trade, but an hour later, met an arriero, with a train of 
horses, laden with oja. He made the same proposition and un- 
loaded the mountainous stack under which one of his horses was 
buried, that I might try him. "^s muy caminadoTj^^ (a great 
traveler,) said the owner ; but he was crooked-legged, sore-backed 
and terribly thin in withers and flanks.. Looking at him in front, 
he seemed to have no breadth ; he was like a horse carved out of 
plank, and I was almost afraid to mount, for fear I should pull 
him over. Nevertheless, he started off briskly ; so without wast- 
ing words, I made an even exchange. Nothing was gained 
however, in point of dignity, for my brisk lean horse occasioned 
quite as many remarks as my fat lazy mule. 

Towards noon I reached a little village called Santa Fe, where 
I got a breakfast of frijoles and chopped sausage, mixed with red- 
pepper — a dish called ckorisa — for a real. The country 1 passed 
was hilly and barren, with a range of broken mountains between 
me and the sea. Crossing a ridge beyond Santa Fe, I came upon 
extensive fields of aloes, cultivated for the vinous drink called 
mescal J which is made of their juice. In the midst of them stood 
the adobe town of Agua Caliente — a neat though scattering place, 
with a spacious church. I journeyed on for leagues in the burn- 
ing sun, over scorched hills, without water or refreshing verdure. 
My caminador^ too, lost the little spirit he had displayed, and 



EVENING AT A POSADA. 337 

jogged along at a snail's pace. I suffered greatly from thirst for 
several hours, till I reached a broad arroyo crossing the road, 
where I found a little muddy water at the bottom of a hole 
Some Indians who were seated in the shade, near a sort of camp- 
fire, put me on the right trail for Potrerillos, the village where I 
expected to pass the night. A pleasantly shaded path of a league 
took me thither by sunset. 

My old native friend on the Rio Mazatlan told me I could 
stop wherever I chose, on the road ; no ranchero would refuse to re- 
ceive me. I accordingly rode up to the first house, and inquired ; 
*' Can I stay here to-night r" " *Si Senor^'''' was the ready an- 
swer. The place was small, and the people appeared impoverished, 
so I asked whether there was a posada in the place. " Go to Don 
Ipolito," said the man ; " that is where the estra7ijeros stay," 
Don Ipolito was a Frenchman, who had an adobe hut and corral 
for mules, in the centre of the village. He was about starting for 
Mazatlan, but gave directions to the women and mozos to furnish 
me with supper, and my horse with corn and oja. • His instruc- 
tions were promptly obeyed ; I had a table set with chorisa and 
frijoles, under the thatched portico ; then a cup of black coffee 
and a puro, which I enjoyed together, while trying to comprehend 
the talk of a very pretty girl of fifteen and a handsome young 
rauchoro, evidently her lover, who sat near me on a low adobe 
wall. They were speaking of marriage — that I found at once ; 
but another ranchero — perhaps a rival suitor — named Pio, formed 
their principal topic. " Es sin verguenza, Pio''^ (He's a 
shameless fellow, that Pio,) was frequently repeated by both of 
them. 

My bed-tinie was not long in coming. A boy was sent into the 

.oft of the hut for a frame made of woven cane, which was placed 
15 



338 ELDORAliO. 

on the portico, and covered with a coarse matting. I threw my 
blankets on it, using my coat for a pillow, and was sound asleep 
in five minutes. Half an hour might have elapsed, when I was 
suddenly aroused by a sound like the scream of a hundred fiends. 
The frame on which I lay was rocked to and fro, and came near 
overturning ; I sprang up in alarm, finding my bed in the midst of 
a black, moving mass, from which came the horrid sound. It 
proved to be a legion of hogs, who had scented out a few grains of 
corn in a basket which had held my horse's feed, and was placed 
under the bed. The door of the hut opened, and the hostess ap- 
peared with a lamp. At sight of her, the beasts gave a hasty 
grunt, cleared the wall at one bound, and disappeared. " Sa^ita 
Maria P'' shrieked the woman; " soti demonios — son kijos dd 
diahlo ! " (they are demons — they are children of the devil !) I 
feared that another descent upon me would be made after she had 
gone back to her hammock ; but I was not molested again. 

I arose in the morning, fed my horse, saddled, and was ofi" by 
sunrise. The town of El Rosario was but four leagues distant, 
and the road was full of young rancheros in their holiday dresses, 
riding thither to mass. Three of them joined company with me 
and tried to sell me one of their horses. ^' You'll never reach 
Tepic with that horse," said they, " look at ours !" and away 
they would gallop for a hundred yards, stopping with one bound, 
to wait for my slow-paced caminador . They drew out their 
tobacco and tinder-boxes, as we rode along ; one of them, a spruce 
young fellow, with a green silk sash around his waist, rolled his 
cigarito in corn-husk, smoked about one- third of it and presented 
me with the remainder, that I might see how much better \7 
tasted than paper. The flavor was indeed mild and delightful ; 1 
puffed away an inch 3f it, and then returned him the stump. A 



A BREAKFAST AT ELR08ARI0. 3^59 

naked boy, basking in the sun at the door of a hut, called out 
' Yanki ! " as I passed. 

El Rosario is built on a beautiful site, in a broad valley, sur- 
rounded by blue and jagged peaks. It has several streets of 
gpacious stone houses, for the most part ruined, and a church with 
a fine stone tower a hundred and fifty feet in height. I had to 
cross the plaza, which was filled with the rancheros of the neigh- 
borhood, waiting for the hour of mass ; my caminador was the 
.subject of general notice, and I was truly rejoiced when I had 
hidden his raw bones from sight in the court-yard of a fonda. 
The house was kept by a good-natured old lady, and three large 
parrots, who, (the parrots) sat each on a different perch, contin- 
ually repeating: ''^ chiquito perriquito^ bonito, hlanquitoV — the 
only phrase I ever heard a Mexican parrot utter, and which may 
be thus translated : " very little, pretty little, white-little par- 
rotling !" I ate my breakfast of beans and red-peppers, chatting 
the while with the old lady, who was loud in her praises of Topic, 
whither I told her I was bound. " Es mi pais^^^ said she, " es vm 
pais preciosoy She scolded me good-humoredly at starting, for 
having left my horse where he might have been stolen, and bade 
me beware of the robbers ; but, thought I, who would take such a 
horse ? 

Crossing the river of Rosario, I took a path embowered in green 
thickets, through which glided multitudes of macaws and tufted 
birds of gay plumage. At noon I came into a lovely valley among 
the mountains, and followed a stream shaded by splendid syca- 
mores and palms. Little patches of meadow land slept like still 
lakes among the woods, with thatched ranches spotting their 
shores I rods up to one of these for a drink of water, which an 
old man brought me in a calabash, standing bare-headed till I had 



840 ELDORADO. 

finished drinking. The trails soon after scattered, and I found 
that I had lost the main road. In this emergency I met a ran 
chero, who told me I had wandered far from the right track, but 
that he would act as guide. I promised him a reward, if he would 
accompany me, whereupon he ran to his hut for a lariat, caught a* 
horse and sprang on his unsaddled back. We rode for more than 
two hours in a foot-path through the depths of the tangled forest, 
before striking the road. The impervious screen of foliage above 
our heads kept off the sun and turned the daylight into an emerald 
gloom. Taking leave of my guide, I emerged from these lonely 
and enchanting shades upon the burnt upland, where the tall fan- 
palms rustled drearily in the hot wind. As the afternoon wore 
away, another green level of billowy foliage appeared ahead ; the 
hills lay behind me, and far away to the right I saw the sea-blink 
along the edges of the sky. 

Notwithstanding the unsurpassed fertility of soil and genial 
character of cliniate, this region is very scantily settled, except in 
the broad river-bottoms opening towards the sea. There, under 
the influence of a perpetual summer, the native race becomes in- 
dolent and careless of the future. Nature does everything for 
them ; a small patch of soil will produce enough maize and bananas 
for a family, with which, and the eternal frijoles, they have abun- 
dance for life's wants. The saplings of the woods furnish them 
with posts, rafters and ridge-poles, the palm and the cane with 
thatch and bedding. They are exempt from all trouble as to 
their subsistence ; the blue ramparts of the Sierra Madre on one 
side, and the silver streak of the sea on the other, enclose their 
world They grow up lithe and agile in the free air, mate, wax 
old and die, making never a step out of the blind though contented 
round which their fathers walked before them. I do not believe 



THE HOSTESS OF A MESON. Sit 

that a more docile or kindly-disposed people exists than these 
rancheros. In all my intercourse with them I was treated with 
unvarying honesty, and with a hospitality as sincere as it was 
courteous and respectful. During all my travels in the Tierra 
Caliente, 1 was never imposed upon as a stranger nor insulted as 
an American, 

My resting-place the third night was the village of Escuinapa, 
where I found a meson^ kept, or at least managed by a lady whose 
kindness and cheerfulness were exactly in proportion to her size ; 
that is, they were about as broad as they were long. She was a fast 
friend of the Americans^ and spoke with rapture of the promptness 
with which all the emigrants whom she had entertained, had paid 
then- bills. Her own countrymen, she said, were slippery cus- 
tomers; they frequently ran off without paying a claco. She 
talked of going to California ; she thought if she were to establish 
a meson in the diggings, all the emigrants who had passed through 
Escuinapa would patronize her. " They are all good people,'- 
said she ; "I like them as well as if they were my brothers, and 1 
am sure they would come to visit me." An old man, who seemed 
to be her husband, sat swinging in the hammock, lifting his feet 
high enough that his blue velvet calzoneros should not be soiled on 
the floor, I had an excellent dinner of eggs, fish and chocolate, 
finishing with a delicate cigarito which the corpulent hostess pre- 
pared for me. Two or three Mexican travelers arrived for the 
night and took possession of the cano bed-frame and benches in the 
room, leaving' me only the cold adobe floor. " Will you take out 
your saddle and bridle .?" requested the old lady ; " los senores 
are going to sleep here." " But where am I to sleep .^" I asked 
" Con migo .'" was the immediate answer. " Coma ?" said I, 
surprised and alarmed ; I was horror-struck and must have looked 



342 ELDORADO. 

SO, for she seemed amused at my bewilderment. " Come !" she 
replied, and took up the lamp. I shouldered the saddle, and fol- 
lowed to a dark, windowless closet, in the rear of the house. It 
was just large enough to hold two frames, covered with matting, 
and some bags of maize and barley. " This is your bed," said she, 
pointing to ono of them, " and this is ours. I hope you do not 
object to our sleeping in the same room." I laid my saddle on 
the frame indicated, put my head on it, and slept soundly till the 
early dawn shone through the cracks of the door. 

Leaving Escuinapa, a day's journey of fifty miles lay before me, 

through an uninhabited country. I doubted the powers of my 

t 
camiiiador, but determined to let him have a fair trial ; so I gave 

him a good feed of corn, drank a cup of chocolate, slung a pine- 
apple to my saddle-bow, and :*ode out of the village in the morning 
dusk. At first the trail led through pleasant woods, with here and 
there a ranche, but diverging more and more to the east, it finally 
came out on a sandy plain bordering the leagues of salt marsh on 
the side towards the sea. On the left the mountain chain of the 
Sierra Madre rose high and abrupt, showing in its natural but- 
tresses and ramparts of rock a strong resemblance to the peaks of 
the Gila country. A spur of the chain ran out towards the sea, 
far in front, like the headland of a bay. The wide extent of salt 
marsh reaching from near El Rosario to La Bayona — a distance 
of seventy-five miles, showed the same recession of the Pacific, as 
[ had already observed at Panama and Monterey. The ancient 
sea-margins may still be traced along the foot of the mountains. 

I jogged steadily onward from sunrise till blazing noon, when^ 
having accomplished about half the journey, I stopped under a 
palm-tree and let my horse crop a little grass, while I refreshed 
myself with the pine-apple. Not far off there was a single ranche j 



RIDE TO LA BAYONA. 



43 



called Piedra Gorda — a forlorn-looking place, where one cannot 
remain long without being tortured by tlie sand-flies Beyond it, 
there is a natural dome of rock, twice the size of St. Peters, cap- 
ping an isolated mountain. The broad intervals of meadow be- 
tween the wastes of sand were covered with groves of the beautiful 
fan-palm, lifting their tufted tops against the pale violet of the 
distant mountains. In lightness, grace and exquisite symmetry, 
the Palm is a perfect type of the rare and sensuous expression of 
Beauty in the South. The first sight of the tree had nearly 
charmed me into disloyalty to my native Pine ; but when the 
wind blew, and I heard the sharp, dry, metallic rustle of its leaves, 
I retained the old allegiance. The truest interpreter of Beauty is 
in the voice, and no tree has a voice like the Pine, modulated td 
a rythmic accord with the subtlest flow of Fancy, touched with a 
hunran sympathy for the expression of Hope and Love and Sor- 
row, and sounding in an awful undertone, to the darkest excess 
of Passion. 

Making the circuit of the bay, the road finally doubled the last 
mountain-cape, and plunged into dark green thickets, fragrant 
with blossoms. I pushed on hour after hour, the pace of my cam- 
inador gradually becoming slower, and sunset approached without 
any sign of " Bayona's hold." Two Indians, mounted on small 
horses, came down by a winding trail from the hills, and rode a 
little in advance of me. " No tiene uste miedo dt viajar solo V 
(Are you hot afraid to travel alone ?) said one of them. " What 
should I be afraid of .^" I asked in return. " The robbers." "I 
should like to see them ;" I said. *' Tiene mucho valor^^^ 
remarked one to the other. They then spoke of my tired horse, 
snd looked admiringly at my blankets, asking me first to make a 
gift of them, then to sell them, and, finally, to let them carry 



344 ELDORADO. 

them behind theh own saddles. I refu&ed them very decidedly, 
and they trotted in advance. At the next bend of the road, 
however, I saw through the trees that they waited till I nearly 
overtook them, when they slowly moved forward. The repetitior 
of this roused my suspicions ; taking off a heavy pair of gloves, ] 
pulled out my pistol, put on a fresh cap, and kept it in my right 
hand. I believe they must have been watching my motions, for, 
instead of waiting as usual, they dashed off suddenly at a gallop. 

The sun went down ; the twilight faded, and the column of the 
zodiacal light shortened to the horizon, as I walked behind my 
caminador, looking for La Bayona. At last I came to a river, 
with two or three ranches on its banks ; in front of them was a 
large fire, with several men standing about it. One of them 
offered to accompany me to the town, which was near. On the 
way, he expatiated on the great number of rabbits in the neighbor- 
hood, and lamented that he had no powder to shoot them, winding 
up with : " Perhaps, Senor, you might give me a little ; you can 
easily buy more when you reach Acaponeta." I poured out half 
the contents of my flask into a corner of his shirt, which he held 
up to receive it ; he then pointed out the fording-place, and I 
crossed to La Bayona, where my poor horse had rest and good 
feed after his hard day's journey. There was a dirty little ffUson 
in the place, a bare room. In which was given me for two reales, 
nd a supper of tortillas and frijoles for a medio (6 J cents. J 

The landlord and one of his friends talked with me a long 
while about the United States. " Tell me," said the latter, " is 
it true what Don Carlos, an American that was here last spring, 
told me — that there is a machine in your country in which j'ou 
look at the moon, and it seems to be twenty feet long?" I 
assured him it was perfectly true, for I had often seen the mooD 



MEXICAN ANTICIPATIONS. 315 

iu it. ''Is it also true," he continued, " that in the United 
States a man pays only one dollar a year, and sends all his chil- 
dren to school for nothing : — and, then, when they have gone 
twelve years to school, they are fit for any business .- Ah, how 
grand that is ! how much better than here ! Now, I do not 
know how to read at aU. Why is it that everything is so fortunate 
in the United States ?" " Because," said the other, " it is a 
nation muy poderosa .'''' "1 have heard that there are several 
millions of people in it/" "That is tiu;," rejoined the other, 
" and that is tha reason why all the Aitieiicans we see are so much 
wiser than we are." I was deeply interested in their naive 
icmaiks. In fact, not only here, but throughout all western 
Mexico, I found none of the hostility to Americans which had 
been predicted for me, but on the reverse, a decided partiality. 
In speaking of us, the natives exhibited (and I say it not with any 
feeling of national pride,) the liking which men bear to their 
superiors. They acknowledged our greater power and intelligence 
as a nation, without jealousy, and with an anticipation rather than 
a fear, that our rule will one day be extended over them. 

The next morning I rode to Acaponeta, four leagues distant, by 
a pi jasant road over low hills. The scenery was highly picturesque , 
the town lies in the lap of a wide valley, nearly encircled by moun- 
tains which rise one above another, the farthest still the highest, 
ike the seats in an amphitheatre. Their sides are cloven by 
tremendous chasms and ravines, whose gloom is concealed by per- 
petual verdure, but the walls of white rock, dropping sheer down 
many hundreds of feet from the summit, stand out distinctly in 
the vaporless atmosphere. Except the church and a few low 
adobe buildings around the plaza, Acaponeta is formed entirely of 
tane huts. I stopped at tie 3Ieson del Angel ^ gave a basket oi 



346 ELDORADO. 

corn to my horse, and ordered eggs, beefsteak, and chocolate fci 
breakfast. The cocinera and her daughter were two hours in pre- 
paring it, and meanwhile I sat in the shade of an orange tree, be 
side a cool well in the court-yard. The women were very talka- 
tive, and amused themselves greatly with my bad Spanish. The 
daughter was preparing a quantity of empty egg-shells for the 
Carnival, by filling them with finely-minced paper of different 
colors and sealing the ends again. In order to show me how 
these were used, they bade me take off my hat. Each then took 
itn egg and approached me, saying, " tu es mi Men amorado,'''' — 
at the same time breaking the shells on my head. My hair was 
completely filled with their many-colored contents, and it was. 
several days before it was clear of this testimony of affection. 

I crossed another large river at Acaponeta, and went on through 
embowered paths, 

*' Under a shade perpetual, which never 
Ray of the sun let in, nor moon. 

Gay parrots and macaws glanced in and out amid the cool greeu 
shawdows ; lovely vistas opened between the boughs into the faery 
heart of the wilderness ; the trees were laced each to each, by 
vines each more luxuriant than themselves ; subtile odors pervaded 
the air, and large, yellow, bell-shaped flowers swung on their long 
stems like cups of gold, tremulous in the chance rays of sunshine. 
Here and there, along the ledges of the mural mountains on my 
left, I noted the smoke of Indian camp-fires, which, as night ap- 
proached, sparkled like beacons. I intended to have stopped at 
a ranche called San Miguel, but passed it unknowingly, and 
night found me on the road. A friendly ranchero pointed' out to 
me a path which led to a hut, but I soon lost it, and wandered 



ELEVATED LODGINGS. 317 

about at random on the dark fenceless meadows. At last I hoard 
a dog's bark — the sure sign of habitation — and, following the 
sound, came to a small ranche. 

I was at once given permission to stay, and the women went to 
work on the tortillas for my supper. I swung off my fatigue in a 
bammock, and supped by starlight on the food of the Aztecs — the 
everlasting tortilla, which is a most nourishing and palatable cake 
when eaten fresh from the hot stone on which it is baked. ThcMo 
were several dogs about the ranche, and the biggest of them 
showed a relentless hostility towards me. " El Chucho don't like 
you," said the ranchero ; " he'll bite if he can get hold of you ; 
you had better climb up there and sleep," and he pointed to a 
sort of cane platform used for drying fruit, and raised on poles 
about twelve feet from the ground. I took my blankets, climbed 
up to the frail couch, and lay down under the stars, with Taurus 
at the zenith. El Chucho took his station below ; as often as I 
turned on my airy bed during the night, the vile beast set up his 
howl and all the dog-herd howled in concert. 

The next day I breakfasted at the hacienda of Buena Vista and 
rode about six leagues further, to the town of Rosa Morada. (The 
Violet Rose.) Just before reaching the place I caught sight of a 
mountain very far to the south, and recognized its outline as that 
of the Silla de Sun Juan (Saddle of St. John,) which rises be- 
hind the roadstead of San Bias. This was a welcome sight, 
for it marked the first step of my ascent to the Table-Land. I 
was growing tired of the Tierra Caliente ; my face was blistered 
with the heat, and my skin so punctured by musquitos, fleas, sand- 
flies and venomous bugs that I resembled a patient in the last 
r.tage of small-pox. There was no meson in Rosa Morada, but a 
miserable posada^ where I found three Frenchmen, two of whom 



3i8 ELDORADO. 

were fresh from Bordeaux and on their way to California. They 
were all engaged about the kitchen fire, concocting their dinner, 
which they invited me to share with them. The materials they 
picked up in the village were not slighted in the cooking, for 
better vermicelli I never ate. They likewise carried their beds 
with them and stretched their cot-frames on the airy portico. 1 
lay down on the adobes and slept " like a brick." 

I was off at daylight, riding over an elevated plain towards the 
Rio Santiago. Two arrieros, on their way to Tepic, shared their 
tortillas with me and proposed we should join company. They 
stopped two hours to noon, however, and I left them. Urging 
forward my despairing horse, I crossed one branch of the river at 
San Pedro and reached Santiago, on the main branch, an hour be- 
fore sunset. In descending to the Rio Santiago — or, more pro- 
perly, the Rio Tulolotlan, its ancient Aztec apellation — I came 
upon plantations of bananas and plantains, heavy with ripening 
fiuit. The country showed signs of wealth and culture ; the 
bouses were lai-ge and well built and the fields divided by strong 
fniccs of palm logs. All up and down the broad banks of the 
river were scattered arrieros, mules and rows of pack-saddles, 
wliile half a dozen large canoes were plying backwards and for- 
wards with their loads. I got into the first vacant one with my 
saddle, bridle and blankets, taking a turn of the lariat round my 
horse's nose. An arricro who had passed me the day previous, 
with a horse as worn-out as my owti, was the other passenger. 
The river is about sixty yards wide, and very deep and swift. Our 
horses swam bravely behind us, and I believe were much the bet- 
ter for the bath. 

I took an instant liking to the arriero for two reasons : firstly, 
he had a dark, melancholy, intellectual eye ; secondly, he was the 



JL NIGHT OF HORROR. 349 

only traveler I saw on the road, whose horse was so woeful an 
animal as mine. "We started in company, and soon grew 
strongly attached. At dusk, we reached a village called Las 
Verritas. The inhabitants were all gone to T^pic, except an old 
man and a little boy who were selling oja to a company of mule- 
teers squatted around a fire in the middle of the street;. Nothing 
was to be had to eat, except some cheeses which one of the latter 
carried in a wicker pack. I could get no tortillas for money, nor 
exactly for love, but compassion helped me. The wife of one of 
the men came quietly to me as I sat by my saddle, and slipping 
two tortillas into my hand, said in a whisper : " now, when you 
buy the cheese, you'll have something to eat with it." With a 
cheese for two reals, my sworn friend and I made a hearty supper. 
He did for me many kind little offices, with a sort of meek fidelity, 
that touched me exceedingly. After our meal was finished, lie 
went into the woods and brought me a calabash of water, standing 
uncovered while I drank it. I lay upon the ground, but all the 
fleas in the village, who had been without sustenance for two days, 
pounced in upon me in swarms. Added to this, every exposed 
part of the body was attacked by legions of musquitos, so that, 
with such enemies without and within, I never passed a more 
terrible night. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE ASCENT TO THE TABLE-LAND. 

1 WAS lying upon my back, with my handkerchief over my face, 
Lrying to imagine that I was asleep, when the welcome voice of the 
arriero shouted in my ear : " Ho ! Placero ! up and saddle ! — the 
morning is coming and we must reach Topic to-day." We fed 
our horses and sat on the ground for an hour before the fii-st streak 
of dawn appeared. Three or four leagues of travel through a 
rich meadow-land brought us to the foot of the first ascent to the 
table-land. Our horses were fast failing, and we got ofi" to walk 
up the stony trail. " I think we had better keep very close to 
gcthcr," said my friend ; " these woods are full of robbers, and 
they may attack us," Our path was fenced in by thorny thickets 
and tall clumps of cactus, and at every winding we were careful 
to have our arms in readiness. We climbed the first long ascent 
to a narrow plain, or shelf, from which we ascended again, finding 
always higher ridges above us. From the Abrevadero, a sort of inn 
or hospice standing alone in the woods, the hot, low country wo 
left was visible neaily as far as Acaponeta ; to one going to- 
wards Mazatlan, its dark -blue level might easily be mistaken for 
the sea. Ths Silla de San Juan was now to the west of us, and 
stood nearly five thousand feet in height. From the top of every 



A COMMERCIAL TRANSACTION. 351 

successive ridge we overlooked a great extant of country, broken 
and cloven in all downward directions by the agency of some pre- 
Adamite flood, yet inclosing in many sbeltered valleys and basins 
Bpots of singular fertility and beauty, wbich are watered through 
whole year from the cisterns of the mountains. It was truly, as 
the old lady at El Rosario said, '■^un pais precioso.''^ 

We reached at noon a village called El Ingenio, about twelve 
leagues from Tepic. It lies in a warm valley planted with ba- 
nanas and sugar-cane ; the mountain streams are made to turn a 
number of mills, from which the place probably derives its name. 
Here the road from San Bias runs up through a narrow gorge 
and johis that from Mazatlan. We walked behind our horses all the 
afternoon, but as rdine hold out host, I gradually got ahead of the 
arriero. I halted several times for him to come up, but as he did 
not appear, I thought it advisable to push on to a good place of 
rest. My caminador had touched the bottom of his capability, 
and another day would have broken him down completely. Never- 
theless, he had served me faithfully and performed miracles, con- 
sidering his wasted condition. I drove him forward up ra- 
vines, buried in foliage -and fragrant with blossoms; the golden 
globes of the oranges spangled th3 " embalmed darkness," as 
twilight settled on the mountains. Two leagues from Tepic, I 
reached the hacienda of La Meca, and quartered myself for the 
night. One of the rancheros wished to purchase my horse, and 
after some chaffering, I agreed to deliver him in Tepic for four 
dollars ! The owner of the hacienda, on learning this, was greatly 
disappointed that I had not bargained with him, and urged me 
very strongly to break my word and soil him the horse for three 
dollars and a half ! I told him I would net sell the animal foi 



oy2 . ELDORADO. 

eight dollars, after having made a bargain ; he was enraged at this 
but, as I could plainly see, respected me the more for it. 

The young rancheros belonging to the hacienda amused them- 
selves very much at m}' expense. A demon of fun seemed to 
possess them, and the simple sentences in my Spanish phrase-book 
excited them to yells of laughter. They were particularly curious 
to know my tastes and preferences, and on learning that I had 
never drank mescal^ invited me to go with them and try it. Wc 
went down the road to a little hut, where a shelf with a bottle and 
two glasses upon it swinging under the thatched portico, signified 
" Liquor for Sale," to the passing arrieros. We entered and sat 
down among the family, who were at their scanty supper of rice 
and tortillas. The poor people offered me their own plates with 
a most genuine unsophisticated hospitality ; the rancheros told 
them whence I came, and they seemed anxious to learn something 
about my country. I tasted the mescal^ which is stronger than 
brandy, and has a pungent oily flavor ; I should think its effects 
most p J rnicious if habitually drank. The people were curious to 
know about our Free School System of which they had heard by 
some means. None of them knew how to-read, and they lamented 
most bitterly that education in Mexico was so difficult for their 
class. I was deeply touched by the exclamation of an old man, 
whose eyes trembled with tears as he spoke : " Ah, how beautiful 
a thing it is to be able to read of God !" then adding, in a softened 
tone, as if speaking to himself : " but I cannot read — I cannot 
read." I found many such persons among those ignorant ran- 
cheros — men who were conscious of their inferiority and desired 
most earnestly to be enlightened and improved. 

Tepic is built on the first plateau of the table-land, and about 
naif-way between the Silla de San Juan and an extinct volcano 



TEPic. 353 

called San Guenguey, which lifts its blackened brow high into the 
eastern sky. The plain, about fifteen miles in breadth, is for the 
most part moist meadow-land, threaded by several small streams 
The city is girdled by pleasant gardens which hide everything 
from view on approaching, except the towers and dome of its 
cathedral. It is a solid well-built town of massive adobe houses 
mostly of one story, and divided by streets running at right angles. 
The general aspect of the place is dull and monotonous, with the 
exception of the plaza, which is one of the most beautiful in 
Mexico. A row of giant plane-trees runs around the four sides, 
shading the arched corridors of stone in which the traders display 
their fruits, trinkets, and articles of dress. There is an old stone 
fountain in the centre, around which, under canopies of grass-mat- 
ting, are heaped piles of yellow bananas, creamy chiiimoyas, 
oranges, and the scarlet, egg-like fruit of the Chinese pomegranate. 
All the gayety of the city seems to concentrate in the plaza, and, 
indeed, there is nothing else worth the traveler's notice, unless he 
is interested in manufactures — in which case he should visit the 
large cotton mills of Barron and Forbes in the vicinity. It 
is mainly through these mills that Tepic is known in the United 
States. 

I had been directed to call at the posada of Dona Petra, but no 
one seemed to know the lady. Wandering about at random in 
the streets, I asked a boy to conduct me to some meson. As I 
rode along, following him, a group of tailors sitting at a street- 
corner, sewing, called out : " Americano !" " No tiene usted cui- 
dado^"^ said the boy, ".so?i mal criadoa'^'' (Don't mind them ; they 
have bad manners.) I followed him into the court-yard of a 
large building, where I was received by the patron^ who gave my 
ioue-over horse to the charge of the mozo, telling me I Tvas just 



354 ELDORADO. 

in time for breakfast. Mj name was suddenly called from fLe 
opposite corridor ; I turned about in surprise, and recognised the 
face of Mr. Jones of Gruadalajara, whom I had met m Mazatlan. 
He had likewise just arrived, and was deep in the midst of a 
temptmg salad and omelette, where I soon joined him. I had 
been in the house but a few minutes, when a heavy shower began, 
and continued several hours without cessation ; it was the first of 
the cabanueloSj a week of rainy weather, which comes in the mid- 
die of the dry season. The purchaser of my horse did not make 
his appearance, notwithstanding I was ready to fulfil my part of 
the bargain. As soon as the rain was over, I went the round of 
the difierent mesons, to procure another horse, and at last made 
choice of a little brown mustang that paced admirably, giving my 
camiuador and twenty dollars for him. I made arrangements to 
leave Tepic the next morning, for the journey from Mazatlan had 
cost me eight days, and nine hundred miles still lay between me 
and Vera Cruz, where I was obliged to be on the 16th of Feb- 
ruary. 

Leaving the meson on a bright Sunday noon, I left the city by 
the Guadalajara road. The plaza was full of people, all in spot- 
less holiday dress ; a part of the exercises were performed in the 
portals of the cathedral, thus turning the whole square into a place 
of worship. At the tingle of the bell, ten thousand persons drop- 
ped on their knees, repeating their aves with a light, murmuring 
sound, that chimed pleasantly with the bubbling of the fountain. 
I s+opped my horse and took oJff my sombrero till the pi-ayer was 
ovp'r. The scenery beyond Tepic is very picturesque ; the road 
crosses the plateau on which the city is built, and rounds the foot 
of San Gruenguey, whose summit, riven into deep gulfs between ita 
pinnacles of rock, was half-hidden in clouds as I passed. I came 



SACRED MYSTERIES. 355 

into a pretty vail 'y, surrounded on all sides by rugged hills ; fields 
of cane and ]ice dotted its surface, but the soil was much loss fer- 
tile than in the rich bottoms of the Tierra Caliente. 

My jprietu — the Mexican term for a dark-brown horse — paced 
finely, and carried me to the village of San Lionel, ten leagues 
fi-om Tepic, two hours before nightfall. I placed him securely in 
the coiral, deposited my saddle in an empty room, the key of which, 
weighing about four pounds, was given into my possession for the 
time being, and entered the kitchen. I found the entire house- 
hold in a state of pleased anticipation ; a little girl, with wings of 
red and white gauze, and hair very tightly twisted into ropy ring- 
lets, sat on a chair near the door. In the middle of the little 
plaza, three rancheros, with scarfs of crimson and white silk sus- 
pended from their shoulders and immense tinsel crowns upon their 
heads, sat motionless on their horses, whose manes and tails were 
studded with rosettes of different colored paper and streamers of 
ribbons. These were, as I soon saw, part of the preparations for 
a sacred dramatic spectacle — a representation, sanctioned by the 
religious teachers of the people. 

Against the wing-wall of the Hacienda del Mayo, which occu- 
pied one end of the plaza, was raised a platform, on which stood a 
table covered with scarlet cloth. A rude bower of cane-leaves, on 
one end of the platform, represented the manger of Bethlehem ; 
while a cord, stretched from its top across the plaza to a hole in 
the front of the church,. bore a large tinsel star, suspended by a 
hole in its centre. There was quite a crowd in the plaza, and 
very soon a procession appeared, coming up from the lower part 
9f the village. The three kings took the lead ; the Virgin 
mounted on an ass that gloried in a gilded saddle and rose-be- 
siprinkled mane and tail, followed them, led by the angel ; and 



)56 ELDORADO. 



le rear. 



several women, with curious ma^ks of paper, brought up the 
Two characters of the harlequin sort — one with a dog's head oe 
his shoulders and the other a bald-headed ft-iar, with a huge hat 
hanging on his back — played all sorts of antics for the diversion' 
of the crowd. .After making the circuit of the plaza, the Virgin' 
was taken to the platform, and entered the manger King Herod 
took his seat at the scarlet table, with an attendant in blue coal 
and red sash, whom I took to be his Prime Minister. The three 
kings remained on their horses in front of the church ; but between 
them and the platform, under the string on which the star was to 
slide, walked two men in long white robes and blue hoods, with 
parchment folios in their hands. These were the Wise Men of 
the East, as one might readily know from their solemn air, and 
the mysterious glances which they cast towards all quarters of the 
heavens. 

In a little while, a company of women on the platform, con- 
cealed behind a curtain, sang an angelic chorus to the tune of " 
pescator delPonda." At the proper moment, the Magi turned 
towards the platform, followed by the star, to which a string was con- 
veniently attached, that it might be slid along the line. The three 
kings followed the star till it reached the manger, when they dis- 
mounted, and inquired for the sovereign whom it had led them to 
visit. They were invited upon the platform and introduced to 
Herod, as the only king; this did not seem to satisfy them, and, 
after some conversation, they retired. By this time the star had 
receded to the other end of the line, and commenced moving for 
ward again, they following. The angel called them into the man 
ger, where, upon their knees, they were shown a small woodeL 
box, supposed to contain the sacred infant ; they then retired^ 
and the star brought them back no more. After this departure. 



THE MASSACRE OP THE INNOCENTS. 357 

King Herod declared himself greatly confused by what he had 
witnessed, and was very much afraid this newly-fbund king would 
weaken his power. Upon consultation with his Prime Minister, 
the Massacre of the Innocents was decided upon, as the only 
means of security. 

The angel, on hearing this, gave warning to the Virgin, who 
quickly got down from the platform, mounted her bespangled don- 
kej and hurried off. Herod's Prime Minister directed all the 
children to be handed up for execution. A boy, in a ragged 
sarape, was caught and thrust forward ; the Minister took him by 
the heels in spite of his kicking, and held his head on the table. 
The little brother and sister of the boy, thinking he was really to 
be decapitated, yelled at the top of their voices, in an agony of 
terror, which threw the crowd into a roar of laughter. King 
Herod brought down his sword with a whack on the table, and the 
Prime Minister, dipping his brush into a pot of white paint which 
stood before him, made a flaring cross on the boy's face. Seve- 
ral other boys were caught and served likewise ; and, finally, the 
two harlequins, whose kicks and struggles nearly shook down the 
platform. The procession then went off up the hill, followed by 
the whole population of the village. All the evening there were fan- 
dangos in the meson, bonfires and rockets on the plaza, ringing of 
bells, and high mass in the church, with the accompaniment of 
two guitars, tinkling to lively polkas. 

I left San Lionel early in the morning. The road, leaving the 
valley, entered the defiles of the mountains, crossing many a wild 
and rocky barraTica. (A barranca nearly answers to the idea of 
our word " gulley," but is on a deeper and grander scale.) A 
beautiful species of pine already appeared, but in the warm hoUowa 
«mall plantations of bananas still flourished. I lost sight of San 



358 ELDORADO. 

Guenguey, and after two hours of rough travel, came out on a 
mountain slope overlooking one of the most striking landscapes I 
ever beheld. In front, across a reach of high table-land, two 
lofty volcanic peaks rose far above the rim of the barren hills. To 
the left, away towards the east, extended a broad and lovely valley, 
dotted with villages and the green shimmer of fields, and hemmed 
in on all sides by mountains that touched the clouds. These lofty 
ranges — some of which were covered with trees to the summit, 
and some bleak and stony, despite their aerial hue of purple — 
make no abrupt transition from the bed of the valley : on the con- 
trary, the latter seems to be formed by the gradual flattening of 
their bases. The whole scene wore a distinct, vaporless, amethyst 
tint, and the volcano of Zurubuco, though several leagues distant, 
showed every jag in the cold and silent lips of its crater. 

I rode thirty miles, to the village of Santa Ysabel, before break- 
fasting, and still had twenty-one miles to Ahuacatlan, my stopping- 
place for the night. My road led down the beautiful valley, 
between fields of the agave amtricana. Sunset came on as I 
reached the foot of Zurubuco, and struck on a rocky path across a 
projecting spur. Here a most wonderful region opened before me. 
The pleasant valley disappeared, with everything that reminded 
me of life, and I was surrounded, as far as the vision extended, 
with the black waves of a lava sea. It was terrible as the gates 
f Tartarus — a wild, inexorable place, with no gleam of light on 
its chaotic features. The road was hewn with difficulty through 
the surgy crests of rock, which had stiffened to adamant, whilo 
tossing in their most tempestuous rage. The only thing like 
vegetation, was a tree with a red and bloated trunk, the bark of 
which peeled off in shreds, — apparently a sort of vegetable elephan- 
tiasis, as disgusting as the human specimens I saw on the Isthmus 



CHILDISH HOSTS A VALLEY-PICTURE. 359 

I passed this region with a sensation bordering on fear, welcoming 
the dusky twilight of the shaded road beyond, and the bright moon 
under whose rays I entered Ahuacatlan. 

At the meson I found no one but the hostess and her two little 
sons ; but the latter attended to my wants with a childish cour- 
tesy, and gravity withal, which were charming. The little fellows 
gave me the key to a room, saw my prieto properly cared for, and 
then sat down to entertain me till the tortillas were made and the 
eggs fried. They talked with much naivete and a wisdom beyond 
their years. After supper they escorted me to my room, and took 
leave of me with : " pasa uste muy buena noche P^ I arose in the 
cloudless dawn, rode through the gay, spacious plaza of the village, 
crossed another barranca, and reached Iztlan in ^me for break- 
fast. This is a beautiful place, embosomed in gardens, from the 
midst of which the church lifts its white tower. Beyond Iztlan, a 
delicious valley-picture lay before me. The dark red mountains, 
bristling with rock, formed nearly an even circle, inclosing a bowl 
about ten miles in diameter. Further down their sides, the plan- 
tations of the agave, or aloe, made a belt of silvery gray, and deep 
in the fertile bosom of the plain, the gardens and orange groves, 
with sparkling glimpses of streams between the black loam, freshly 
ploughed, and tlxe fields of young cane, of a pale golden green, 
basked in the full light of the sun. Far off, over the porphyry 
rim of the basin, a serrated volcanic peak stood up against the 
stainless blue of the sky. It was one of those rare chances in 
nature, when scenery, color, climate, and the sentiment of the 
spot, are in entire and exquisite harmony. 

Leaving this valley, which was like a crystal or a piece of 
perfect enamel, buried in a region that Nature had left in the 
rough, I climbed a barren hUl, which terminated at the brink of 



360 ELDORADO. 

the grand Barranca — a tremendous chasm, dividing two sections 
of the table-land. Two thousand feet below, at the level of the 
Tierra Caliente, lay a strip of Eden-like richness and beauty, but 
the mountains which walled it on both sides were dark, sterile and 
savage. Those opposite to me rose as far above the level of the 
ledge on which I stood, as then* bases sank below it. Then- ap- 
pearance was indescribably grand ; for the most perfect and sub- 
lime effect of a mountain is to be had neither from base nor 
summit, but a station midway between the two and separated from 
it. The road descending to Plan de Barranca, a little village at 
the bottom of the chasm, is built with great labor along the very 
verge of giddy precipices, or notched under the eaves of crags which 
threaten to topple down upon it. The ascent of the opposite 
steep is effected by a stony trail, barely large enough for two 
mules to pass, up the side of a wide crevice in the mountain-wall. 
Finally, the path appears to fail ; the precipice falls sheer on one 
side ; the bare crag rises on the other. But a sudden twist 
around the comer of a rock reveals a narrow cleft, terminating in 
the lower shelf of the table-land above. Looking back after I 
had scaled this, an atajo of mules which followed me, appeared 
to be emerging from the bowels of the earth. The road crossing 
the barranca is nearly fifteen miles in length. Large numbers of 
wrorkmen are engaged in completing it for vehicles, and over the 
deepest chasm a bridge is being constructed by the State of Jalisco. 
Five years, however, is the shortest period named for the com- 
pletion of the work, up to which time the barranca will remain 
impassable except for mules. The line of stages to Tepic, which 
is greatly demanded by the increase of travel, cannot therefore be 
perfected before that time ; but Seflor Zurutuza, the proprietor of 
the diligence lines, proposes opening a communication immediately, 



A CHILL LODGING. oGl 

by moans of a mule-post across the barranca. From Tepic to 
San Bias is but a day's journey, so that the chain of comfortable 
travel will then reach nearly from ocean to ocean. 

My prieto began to feel the effects of the hard hills and thin 
air of the upper region, and I therefore stopped for the night at 
the inn of Mochitilte, an immense building, sitting alone like a 
fortress among the hills. The key of a large, cheerless room, 
daubed with attempts at fresco ornament, was given to me, and a 
supper served up in a cold and gloomy hall. The wind blew chill 
from the heights on either side, and I found -prietoh blankofc a 
welcome addition to my own, in the matter of bedding. 



16 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



THE ROBBER REGION^ 



I SLEPT soundly in my frescoed chamber, fed priSto^ and was 
off by sunrise. The road ascended the valley for several leagues, 
to the rim of the table-land, with high, barren mountains on either 
hand. Before crossing its edge I turned to look down into the 
basin I had left. A few streaks of dusky green varied its earthen 
hue; far off, in its very bottom, the front of the meson of 
Mochitilte shone like a white speck in the sunrise, and the blue 
walls of the barranca filled up the farthest perspective. I now 
entered on a broad, barren plain, bordered by stony mountains • 
and holding in its deepest part a shallow lake, which appeared to 
be fast drying in the sun. The scenery strikingly resembled that 
of some parts of California, towards the end of the rainy season. 

The little town of Magdalena, where I breakfasted, sits beside 
the lake, at the foot of a glen through which the road again enters 
♦he hills. The waters of a clear stream trickle down through its 
streets and keep green the gardens of splendid orange-trees which 
gleam behind the gray adobe walls. At the meson I gave prieto 
a sheaf of oja and two hours' rest before starting for the town of 
Tequila. " iVb quiere u%U tomar ausilio 1 — hay muchos ladrones 
en el camino ;" (Don't you want a guard ? — the road is full of 



MEETING A CONDUCTA. ?<^S 

robbers,) asked the vaquero of the house, " Every traveler," he 
continued, " takes a guard as far as Tequila, for which he pays 
each man a dollar." I told him I had no particular fear of the 
robbers, and would try it alone. " You are very courageous," he 
remarked, " but you will certainly be attacked unless you take me 
as an ausilio.''^ . 

Soon after leaving the town I met a conduda of a hundrijd 
soldiers, escorting about fifty specie-laden mules. The officers 
were finely mounted, but the men, most of whom had broad, 
swarthy Indian faces, trudged along in the dust. Some of them 
greeted me with : " Como va, paisano ?" some with " How do you 
do .'" and others with a round English oath, but all imagining, 
apparently, that they had made the same salutation. As I was 
passing, a tawny individual, riding with one of the officers, turned 
about and addressed me in English. He was an American, who 
had been several years in the country, and was now on his way to 
California, concerning which he wanted some information. Not- 
withstanding he was bound to San Bias and had all his funds packed 
on one of the mules, he seemed still undecided whether to embark 
for San Francisco, and like most of the other emigrants I met, 
insisted strongly on my opinion as to the likelihood of his success. 
The road now entered a narrow pass, following the dry bed of a 
stream, whose channel was worn about twenty feet deep in the 
earth. Its many abrupt twists and windings afibrded unequalled 
chances for the guerillas, especially as the pass was nearly three 
leagues in length, without a single habitation on the road. My 
friend, Lieutenant Beale, was chased by a party of robbers, in this 
very place, on his express journey across Mexico, in the summer 
of 1848. I did not meet with a single soul, although it was not 
later than the middle of the afternoon. The recent passing of the 



364 ELDORADO. 

conducta had probably frightened the robbers away from the 
vicinity. 

After riding two hours in the hot afternoon sun, which shone 
down into the pass, a sudden turn disclosed to me a startling 
change of scenery. From the depths of the scorched hills, I came 
at once upon the edge of a bluff, several hundred feet high, down 
which the road wound in a steep and tortuous descent. Below 
and before me extended a plain of twenty miles in length, entirely 
covered with fields of the maguey. At my very feet lay the city 
of Tequila, so near that it seemed a stone might be thrown upon 
the square towers of its cathedral. The streets, the gardens, the 
housetops and the motley groups of the populace, were as com- 
pletely unveiled to my observation as if Asmodeus had been my 
traveling companion. Around the plain, which now lay basking 
in the mellow light of the low sun, ran a circle of mural moun- 
tains, which, high and blue as they were, sank into nothing before 
the stupendous bulk of a black volcanic peak rising behind Tequila. 
The whole scene, with its warm empurpled hues, might have 
served, if not for the first circle of Dante's Paradise, at least for 
that part of Purgatory which lay next to it. 

I rode down into the city, crossing several arroyos, which the 
floods gathered by the volcano had cut deeper into the plain. At 
the Mtson de San Jose — the only inn in the place — I found a large 
company of soldiers quartered for the night. The inner patio or 
courtyard, with its stables, well, and massive trough of hewn stone, 
was appropriated to their horses, and groups of swarthy privates, 
in dusty blue uniforms, filled the corridors. I obtained a dark 
room for myself, and a corner of one of the stalls for prieto, where 
I was obliged to watch until he had finished his corn, and keep off 
his military aggressors. The women were all absent, and I pro 



SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. 365 

cured a few tortillas and a cup of pepper-sauce, with some diffi- 
culty. The place looked bleak and cheerless after dark, and for 
this reason, rather than its cut-throat reputation, I made but a 
single stroll to the plaza, where a number of rancheros sat beside 
their piles of fruit and grain, in the light of smoky torches, hoisted 
on poles. The meson was full of fleas, who seemed to relish my 
blood better than that of the soldiers, for I believe they aU paid 
me a visit in the course of the night. 

When I arose, the sun, just above the hills, was shining down 
the long street that led to Guadalajara. I had a journey of 
eighteen leagues to make, and it was time to be on the road ; so, 
without feeding my horse, I saddled and rode away. A little 
more than four leagues across the plain, brought me to the town 
of Amatitlan ; where, at a miserable mud building, dignified by the 
name of a meson, I ordered breakfast, and a mano de oja for my 
horse. There was none in the house, but one of the neighbors 
began shelling a quantity of the ripe ears. When I came to pay, 
I gave her a Mexican dollar, which she soon brought back, saying 
that it had been pronounced counterfeit at SLtienda, or shop, across 
the way. I then gave her another, which she returned, with the 
same story, after which I gave her a third, saying she must change 
it, for I would give her no more. The afiairs of a few hours 
later caused me to remember and understand the meaning of this 
ittle circumstance. At the tienda, a number of fellows in greasy 
sarapes were grouped, drinking mescal, which they oficred me*. I 
refused to join them : " es la ultima ■yez," (it is the last time,j 
said one of them, though what he meant, I did not then know. 

It was about ten in the forenoon when I left Amatitlan. The 
road entered on a lonely range of hills, the pedestal of an abrupt 
jjpur standing out from the side of the volcano. The soil wap 



o66 ELDORADO. 

covered with stunted shrubs and a growth of long yellow grass 
I could see the way for half a league before and behind ; there 
was no one in sight — not even a boy-arriero, with his two or three 
donkeys. I rode leisurely along, looking down into a deep ravine 
on n<y right and thinking to myself ; " that is an excellent place 
for robbers to lie in wait ; I think I had better load my pistol" — 
which I had fired ofi" just before reaching Tequila. Scarcely had 
this thought passed through my mind, when a little bush beside 
the road seemed to rise up ; I turned suddenly, and, in a breath, 
the two barrels of a musket were before me, so near and surely 
aimed, that I could almost see the bullets at the bottom. The 
weapon was held by a ferocious-looking native, dressed in a pink 
calico shirt and white pantaloons ; on the other side of me stood 
a second, covering me with another double-barreled musket, and 
a little in the rear, appeared a third. 1 had walked like an un- 
suspecting mouse, into the very teeth of the trap laid^for me. 

" Down with your pistols !" cried the first, in a hurried whisper. 
So silently and suddenly had all this taken place, that I sat still a 
moment, hardly realizing my situation. " Down with your pistols 
and dismount !" was repeated, and this time the barrels came a 
little nearer my breast. Thus solicited, I threw down my single 
pistol — the more readily because it was harmless — and got ofi" my 
horse. Having secured the pistol, the robbers went to the rear, 
never for a moment losing their aim. They then ordered me to 
lead my horse off the road, by a direction which they pointed out. 
We went down the side of the ravine for about a quarter of a mile 
to a patch of bushes and tall grass, out of view from the road, 
where they halted, one of them returning, apparently to keep 
watch. The others, deliberately levelling their pieces at me, 
commanded me to lie down on my face — " la hoca a tierra .'" I 



THE robbers' search. 367 

cannot say that I felt alarmed : it had always been a part of my 
belief that the shadow of Death falls before him — that the man 
doomed to die by violence feels the chill before the blow has been 
struck. As I never felt more positively alive than at that mo- 
ment, I judged my time had not yet come. I pulled off my coat 
and vest, at their command, and threw them on the grass, saying: 
" Take what you want, but don't detain me long." The fellow in 
a pink calico shirt, who appeared to have some authority over the 
other two, picked up my coat, and, one after the other, turned all 
the pockets inside out. I felt a secret satisfaction at his blank 
look when he opened my purse and poured the few dollars it con- 
tained into a pouch he carried in his belt. ^^ How is it," said he, 
" that you have no more money .?" " I don't own much," I an- 
swered, " but there is quite enough for you." I had, in fact, barely 
sufficient in coin for a ride to Mexico, the most of my funds hav- 
ing been invested in a draft on that city. I believe I did not lose 
more than twenty-five dollars by this attack. " At least," I said 
to the robbers, " you'll not take the papers" — among which was 
my draft. "iVb," he replied, "%o me valen nada.''"' (They are 
worth nothing to me.) 

Having searched my coat, he took a hunting-knife which I 
carried, (belonging, however, to Lieut. Beale,) examined the blade 
and point, placed his piece against a bush behind him and came 
up to me, saying, as he held the knife above my head : " Now 
put your hands behind you, and don't move, or I shall strike.' 
The other then laid down his musket and advanced to bind me. 
They were evidently adepts in the art : all their movements were 
so carefully timed, that any resistance would have been against 
dangerous odds. I did not consider my loss sufficient to justify 
any desperate risk, and did as they commanded. With the end 



368 ELDORADO. 

of my horse's lariat, they bound my wrists firmly together and 
having me thus secure, sat down to finish their inspection more 
leisurely. My feelings during this proceeding were oddly hetero- 
geneous — at one moment burning with rage and shame at having 
neglected the proper means of defence, and the next, ready to 
burst into a laugh at the decided novelty of my situation. My 
blanket having beea spread on the grass, everything was emptied 
into it. The robbers had an eye for the curious and incompre- 
hensible, as well as the useful. They spared all my letters, books 
and papers, but took my thermometer, compass and card-case, 
together with a number of drawing-pencils, some soap, (a, thing 
the Mexicans never use,) and what few little articles of the 
toilette I carried with me. A bag hanging at my saddle-bow, con- 
taining ammunition, went at once, as well as a number of oranges 
and cigars in my pockets, the robbers leaving me one of the latter, 
as a sort of consolation for my loss. 

Between Mazatlan and Topic, I had carried a doubloon in the 
hollow of each foot, covered by the stocking. It was well they 
had been spent for prieto, for they would else have certainly been 
discovered. The villains unbuckled my spurs, jerked off my boots 
and examined the bottoms of my pantaloons, ungirthed the saddle 
and shook out the blankets, scratched the heavy guard of the bit 
to see whether it was silver, and then, apparently satisfied that 
they had made the most of me, tied everything together in a 
corner of my best blanket. " Now," said the leader, when this 
was done, " shall we take your horse .?" This question was of 
course a mockery ; but I thought I would try an experiment, and 
tio answered in a very decided tone : " No ; you shall not. I must 
have him ; I am going to Guadalajara, and I cannot get there 
without him. Besides, he would not answer at all for your busi 



THEIR DEPARTTRE AND -MY LIBERATION. 8o9 

tiess." He made no reply, but took up his piece, which I noticed 
was a sj)lendid article and in perfect order, walked a short distance, 
towards the road, and made a signal to the third robber. Sud- 
denly he came back, saying : '' Perhaps you may get hungry 
before night — here is something to eat ;" and with that he placed 
one of my oranges and half a dozen tortillas on the gi-ass beside 
me. " Mil graciaSy'^^ said I, '^ but how am I to eat without 
hands ?" The other then coming up, he said, as they all three 
turned to leave me : ^' Now we are going ; we have more to carry 
than we had before we met you ; adios !" This was insulting — 
but there are instances under which an insult must be swallowed. 
I waited till no more of them could be seen, and then turned to 
my horse, who stood quietly at the other end of the lariat: 
" Now, ^He^o,"I asked, " how are we to get out of this scrape .?" 
He said nothing, but I fancied I could detect an inclination to 
laugh in the twitching of his nether lip. However, I went to 
work at extricating myself — a difficult matter, as the rope was tied 
in several knots. After tu^sino; a Ions time, I made a twist 

DO O O 7 

which the India-rubber man might have envied, and to the great 
danger of my spine, succeeded in forcing my body through my 
arms. Then, loosening the knots with my teeth, in half an hour 
I was free again. As I rode off, I saw the three robbers at soma 
distance, on the other side of the ravine. 

It is astonishing how light one feels after being robbed. 'A 
sensation of complete independence came over me ; my horse, 
even, seemed to move more briskly, after being relieved of my 
blankets. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that this 
was a genuine adventure, worth one experience — that, perhaps, it 
was better to lose a few dollars than have even a robber's blood 
i.'tt mv head ; but it would not do. The sense of the outrage and 



370 ELDORADO. 

indigulty was strongest, and my single desire was the unchristian 
one of revenge. It is easy to philosophize on imaginary premises. 
but actual experience is the best test of human nature. Once, it 
had been difficult for me to imagine the feeling that would prompt 
a man to take the life of another ; now, it was clear enough. In 
spite of the threats of the robbers, I looked in their faces suffi- 
ciently to know them again, in whatever part of the world I might 
meet them. I recognized the leader — a thick-set, athletic man, 
with a short, black beard — as one of the persons I had seen 
lounging about the tienda^ in Amatitlan, which explained the 
artifice that led me to display more money than was prudent. It 
was evidently a preconceived plan to plunder me at all hazards, 
since, coming from the Pacific, I might be supposed to carry a 
booty worth fighting for. 

I rode on rapidly, over broad, barren hills, covered with patches 
of chapparal, and gashed with deep arroyos. These are the usual 
hiding-places of the robbers, and I kept a sharp look-out, inspect- 
ing every rock and clump of cactus with a peculiar interest. 
About three miles from the place of my encounter, I passed a 
spot where there had been a desperate assault eighteen months 
previous. The robbers came upon a camp of soldiers and traders 
in the night, and a fight ensued, in which eleven of the latter were 
killed. They lie buried by the road-side, with a few black crosses 
to mark the spot, while directly above them stands a rough 
gibbet, on which three of the robbers, who were afterwards taken, 
swing in chains. I confess to a decided feeling of satisfaction, 
when I saw that three, at least, had obtained their deserts. 
Their long black hair hung over their faces, their clothes 
wrere dropping in tatters, and their skeleton-bones protruded 
through the dry .*nd shrunken flesh. The thin, pure air of the 



MEXICAN PUNISHMENT AND PROTECTION. 371 

table-land had prevented decomposition, and the vidtures and 
buzzards had been kept off by the nearness of the bodies to the 
road. It is said, however, that neither wolves nor vultures mil 
touch a dead ^Mexican, his flesh being always too highly seasoned 
by the red-pepper he has eaten. A large sign was fastened above 
this ghastly spectacle, with the words, in large letters: "asi 

CASTIGA LA LEY EL LADRON Y EL ASESINO." (ThuS the laW 

punishes the robber and the assassin J 

Towards the middle of the afternoon, I reached a military 
station called La Venta, seven leagues from Guadalajara. Thu'ty 
or forty idle soldiers were laughing and playing games in the 
shade. I rode up to the house and informed the officer of my 
loss, mentioning several circumstances by which the robbers might 
be identified; but the zealous functionary merely shrugged his 
shoulders and said nothing. .A proper distribution of half the 
soldiers who lay idle in this guard-house, would have sufficed to 
make the road perfectly secure. I passed on, with a feeling of 
indignation against the country and its laws, and hurried my 
prieto, now nearly exhausted, over the dusty plain. I had as- 
cended beyond the tropical heats, and, as night drew on, the 
temperature was fresh almost to chilliness. The robbers had 
taken my cravat and vest, and the cold wind of the mountains, 
blowing upon my bare neck gave me a violent nervous pain and 
toothache, which was worse . than the loss of my money. Prieto 
panted and halted with fatigue, for he had already traveled fifty 
miles ; but I was obliged to reach Gruadalajara, and by plying a 
stick in lieu of the abstracted spur, kept Aim to his pace. At 
dusk I passed through Sapopa, a small village, containing a splen- 
did monastery, belonging to the monks of the order of Guada- 
lupe. Beyond it, I overtook, in the moonlight, the family of a 



372 ELDORADO. 

ranchero, jogging along on thinr mules and repeating paternosters, 
whether for protection against robbers or cholera, I could not tell. 
The plain was crossed by deep, water-worn arroyos, over which 
the road was bridged. An hour and a half of this bleak, ghostly 
travel brought me to the suburbs of Guadalajara — ^greatly to the" 
relief of prieto, for he began to stagger, and I believe could not 
have carried me a mile further. 

I was riding at random among the dark adobe houses, when an 
old padre, in black cassock and immense shovel-hat, accosted me. 
" Estrangero ?" he inquired ; " Si, padre,^'' said I. " But," ho 
continued, "do you know that it is very dangerous to be here 
alone .'" Several persons who were passing, stopped near us, out 
of curiosity. " Begone !" said he, " what business have you to 
stop and listen to us ?" — then, dropping his voice to a whisper, he 
added : " Gruadalajara is full of robbers ; you must be careful how 
you wander about after night ; do you know where to go ?" I an - 
swered in the negative. " Then," said he, " go to the Meson de 
la Merced ; they are honest people there, and you will be per- 
fectly safe ; come with me and I'll show you the way." I followed 
him for some distance, till we were near the place, when he put 
me in the care of " Ave Maria Santissima," and left. I found 
the house without diflficulty, and rode into the court-yard. The 
people, who seemed truly honest, sympathized sincerely for my 
mishap, and thought it a great marvel that my life had been 
spared For myself, when I lay down on the tiled floor to pasa 
another night of sleepless martyrdom to fleas and the toothache, I 
involuntarily said, with a slight variation of Touchstone's sage re- 
flection : "Aye, now I am in Guadalajara; the more fool I: 
when I was at home I was in a better place ; but travelers must 
be content. " 



■CHAPTER mVl. 

THREE DAYS IN GUADALAJARA. 

When I got off my horse at the Meson de la Merced, I told 
the host and the keeper of the fonda that I had been robbed, 
that I had no money, and did not expect to have any for two or 
three days. " No hace nada^'^'' said they, " you may stay as lon^ 
as you like." So they gave my horse a sheaf of oja and myself a 
supper of tortillas and pepper-sauce. The old lady who kept the 
fonda was of half-Castilian blood, and possessed all the courtesy 
of her white ancestors, ^7ith the quickness and vivacity of the In- 
dian. She was never tired of talking to me about the strangers 
who had stopped at the meson, — especially of one whom she 
called Don Julio, who, knowing little Spanish, frequently accost- 
ed her as " mule !" or '' donkey I" for want of some other word. 
She would mimic him with great apparent delight. She had 
three daughters — Felipa, Mariquita and Concepcion — of whom 
the two former were very beautiful. They were employed in the 
manufacture of rebosas, and being quite skilful in tending the 
machines, earned a dollar a day — a considerable sum for Mexico. 
Concepcion was married, and had a son named Zenobio — a very 
handsome, sprightly little fellow, with dark, humid, lustrous eyes 
The circumstance of my remembering and calling each one bj 



374 ' ELDORADO. 

name, seemed to please them highly, and always at meal -time thejf 
gathered around the table, asking me innumerable questions about 
my country and my travels. 

My first move next morning was to find the Diligence OflSce. 1 
wont into the main plaza, which is a beautiful square, shaded by 
orange trees, and flanked on two sides by the picturesque front oi 
the Cathedral and the Government Palace. As I was passing the 
latter building, one of the sentinels hailed me. Supposing it to 
be meant in derision, I paid no attention to it, but presently a 
sergeant, accompanied by two men, came after me. One of the 
latter accosted me in English, saying that it was so long since he 
had seen an American, he hoped I would stop and talk with him. 
He was a Scotchman, who for some reason had enlisted for a year 
and had already served about half of his time. He complained 
bitterly of the bad treatment of the men, who, according to his 
story, were frequently on the point of starvation. The Mexican 
soldiers are not furnished with rations, but paid a small sum daily, 
on which they support themselves. As the supplies from head- 
quarters are very irregular, and a system of appropriation is prac- 
tised by all the officers through whose hands they must come, the 
men are sometimes without food for a day or two, and never re- 
ceive more than is barely sufficient for their wants. The poor 
Scotchman was heartily sick of his situation and told me he would 
have deserted long before, only that he had no other clothes in 
which to disguise himself. 

At the office of the Diligence, I found the administradcr, Don 
Lorenzo del Castano, to whom I related my story and showed my 
draft. " Es superior j^' said he, after examining it, and then told 
me to call the next morning, as he would see a merchant in the 
meantime who, he was sure, would pay me the amount. Drafts 



FINANCIERING. 375 

on the city of Mexico were at a premium of two per cent, and he 
had no diificulty in getting it accepted. The money, however, 
was paid to me in quarter-dollars, reals and medios, which it 
took me more than an hour to count. I went back to the office, 
with a heavy canvas-bag in each pocket, paid all the money to the 
administrador, who gave me a ticket for the next stage to Mexico, 
and an order for the residue on all the agents of the line. By 
exhibiting these orders at the different stopping-places on the road, 
the traveler receives credit for all his expenses, the amount at 
each place being endorsed at the bottom, and the remainder, if 
any, paid on his arrival at Mexico. By this means, he is saved 
the necessity of taking any money with him, and may verify the 
old Latin proverb by whistling in the face of the robber. I waa 
thus led, perforce, to give up my original plan of traveling on 
horseback to Mexico, by way of Lake Chapala, Zamora, the 
ancient city of Morelia and the valley of Toluca. This route 
offered less of general interest than that of Lagos and Guanajuato, 
but had the attraction of boing little traveled by strangers and 
little known. Perhaps I lost nothing by the change, for the hUls 
near Zamora are robber-ground, and I had no desire to look into 
the barrels of three or four leveled muskets a second time. 

I found Guadalajara in a state of terror and prayers. For a 
month previous the inhabitants had been expecting the arrival of 
the Cholera, now that its ravages in Durango and Zacatecas were 
over. The city authorities were doing everything in their power 
to hasten its approach, by prohibiting all public' amusements and 
instituting solemn religious festivals. The Cathedral was at all 
times crowded with worshippers, the Host frequently carried 
through the streets, gunpowder burned and rockets sent up to 
propitiate the Virgin. As yet no case had been reported in the 



376 ELDORADO. 

city, though there were rumors of several ia the neighboring 
villages. The convicts were brought out every morning in long 
gangs, chained together, each man carrying a broom made of small 
twigs. Commencing with the centre of the city, they were kept 
sweeping the whole day, till all the principal streets were left without 
a particle of dust or filth. The clanking of they; fetters was con- 
stantly heard in some part of the city ; the officers who walked 
behind them carried short whips, with which they occasionally 
went up and down the lines, giving each man a blow. This 
daily degradation and abuse of criminals was cruel and repulsive. 
The men, low and' debased as they were, could not have been 
entirely devoid of shame, the existence of which always renders 
reclamation possible ; but familiarity with ignominy soon breeds 
a hardened indifference which meets the pride of honesty with an 
equal pride of evil. 

Guadalajara is considered the most beautiful city in Mexico. 
Seated on a shelf of the table-land, between three and four thou- 
sand feet above the sea, it enjoys a milder climate than the capital, 
and while its buildings lack very Httle of the magnificence of the 
latter, its streets are a model of cleanliness and order. The block 
fronting on the north side of the plaza, is a single solid edifice of 
stone, called the Cortal^ with a broad corridor, supported on stone 
arches, running around it. The adjoining block is built on the 
same plan, and occupied entirely by shops, of all kinds. Shielded 
alike from rain and sun, it is a favorite promenade, and always wears 
a gay and busy aspect. The intervals between the pillars, next the 
street, are filled with cases of toys, pictures, gilt images of saints, or 
gaudy slippers, sarapes and rebosas. Here the rancheros may be 
seen in abundauce, buying ornaments for the next festivals. V eu- 
ders of fruit sit at the corners, their mats filled with fragrant and 



THE COSTAL NOTORIETY. 377 

gleaming pyramids, and the long shelves of cool bailey-watei and 
tepache^ ranged in glasses of alternate white and purple, attiaci 
the thirsty idler. Here and there a group is gathered around 
a placard pasted on the wall — some religious edict of the cholera- 
fearing authorities, a list of the fortunate tickets in the last lot- 
t(n-y, or the advertisement of a magnificent cock-fight that is to 
come off in the old town of Uruapan. The bulletin at the lottery- 
office is always surrounded ; rancheros, housemaids, padres and 
robbers come up, pull out tljeir tickets from under their cassocks 
and dirty sarapes, compare the numbers and walk away \\'ith the 
most complete indifference at their ill luck. The shops belonging 
to different trades are always open ; tailors and shoemakers fre- 
quently sit in groups in the open corridor, with their work on 
their knees, undisturbed by the crowds that pass to and fro. I 
spent several hours daily in the cortal^ never tiring of the pictur- 
esque life it exhibited. 

It is remarkable how soon a man's misfortunes are made public 
The second day of my stay in Guadalajara, I believe I was known 
to most of the inhabitants as " the American who was robbed." 
This, together with my rugged and dusty suit of clothing, (what 
was left of it,) made me the subject of genei-al notice ; so, after 
selling my draft, I hastened to disguise myself in a white shirt 
and a pair of Mexican pantaloons. One benefit of this notoriety 
was, that it was the means of my becoming acquainted with two 
or three American residents, and through them, with several intel- 
ligent anl agreeable citizens. I never entered a place under such 
woful auspices, nor passed the time of my stay mor^* delightfully. In 
walking about the streets I was often hailed with the word " uistli P' 
by some of the lower class. From the sound I thought it might 
possibly be an old Aztec word of salutation ; but one day I met a 



C78 ELDORADO. 

man, who, as he said it, held up a bottle of mescal, and I saw at 
once that he meant whiskey. The fact that it was constantly re- 
peated to me as an American, gave rather a curious inference 
as to the habits of 'the emigrants who had passed through the citj 
before me. 

The appearance of Guadalajara on Sunday morning was very 
cheerful and beautiful. Everybody was in the streets, though not 
more than half the shops were closed ; the bells rang at interval? 
from the cathedral and different churches ; the rancheros flocked 
in from the country, the men in snow-white shirts and blue cal- 
zoneros, the women in their best rebosas and petticoats of some 
gay color ; and the city, clean swept by the convicts, and flooded 
with warm sunshine, seemed to give itself up truly to a holiday. I 
walked down along the banks of the little river which divides it 
into two unequal parts. The pink towers of the Bishop's Palace 
rose lightly in the air ; up a long street, the gateway of the Con- 
vent of San Francisco stood relieved against a shaded court-yard • 
the palms in some of the near gardens rustled in a slow breeze, 
but the dark shafts of the cypress were silent and immovable. 
Along the parapets of the bridges, the rancheros displayed their fag-, 
gots of sugar-cane and bunches of bananas, chatting gaily with each 
other, and with their neighbors who passed by on mules or asses. 
I visited most of the churches during the time of service. Many 
of them are spacious and might be made impressive, but they are 
all disfigured by a tawdry and tasteless style of ornament, a pro- 
fusion of glaring paint and gilding, ghastly statues, and shocking 
pictures. The church of the Convent of San Francisco is partly 
an exception to this censure ; in a sort of loggia it has a large 
painting of the Last Supper, by a Mexican artist, which is truly a 
work of great beauty. In the body of the church are several un- 



MOVABLE FORTRESSES 379 

doubted originals by Muiillo, though not of his best j^eiiod ; I did 
not see them. The cathedral, more majestic in proportion, is 
likewise more simple and severe in its details ; its double row of 
nolumns, forming three aisles, the central one supporting a low 
dome, have a grand effect when viewed from the entrance. It was 
constantly filled with worshippers, most of whom were driven 
thither by the approach of the cholera. Even in passing its door, 
as they crossed the plaza, the inhabitants uncovered or made 
the sign of the cross — an extent of devotion which I never wit- 
nessed out of Mexico. 

I found great source for amusement in the carriages collected 
n?ar the doors during mass-hour. They were all the manufacture 
of the country, and the most of them dated from the last century. 
*The running works were of immense size, the four wheels sustain- 
ing a massive and elaborately carved frame, rising five or six feet 
from the ground, and about twelve feet in length. In the centre 
of this, suspended in some miraculous manner, hung a large 
wooden globe, with a door in each side — a veritable Noah's Ark 
in form and solidity, and capable of concealing a whole family 
(and the Mexican families are always large) in its hollow maw. 
These machines were frequently made still more ridiculous by the 
pair of dwarfed, starved mules, hitched to the tongue, so far in ad- 
vance that they ?eemed to be running away fiom the mountain 
which pursued and was about to overwhelm them. I concluded^ 
however, after some reflection, that they were peculiarly adapted 
to the country. In case of revolution they would be not only 
bullet but bomb proof, and as there are no good roads among the 
mountains, they would roll from top to bottom, or shoot off a pre* 
3ipice, without danger to the family within. There are several 
extensive carriage manufactories in Guadalajara, but the modern 



380 ^ ELDORADO. 

fabrics more nearly resemble thos3 of our own cities, retaining 
only the heavy, carved frame-work, on which the body rests. 

In the afternoon I went with some friends to make a paseo on 
the Alameda. This is a beautiful square on the border of the city, 
shaded with fine trees, and traversed by pleasant walks, radiating 
from fountains in the centre. It is surrounded by a hedge of 
roses, which bloom throughout the whole year, covering with a 
fragrant shade the long stone benches on which the citizens repose, 
Don and ranchero mingled together, smoking their puros and 
cigaritos. The drive is around the outside of the Alameda ; 1 
saw but a small part of the fashion of Guadalajara, as most of the 
families were remaining at home to invite the cholera. There 
were some handsome turn-outs, and quite a number of splendid 
horses, ridden in the Mexican style, which is perfection itself — 
horse and rider moving as one creature, and having, apparently, 
but one soul. The Mexican horses are all sprung from the 
Arabic and Andalusian stock introduced into the country by 
Cortez, and those large bands which run wild on the plains of San 
Joaquin and in the Camanche country, probably differ but slightly 
from the Arab horse of the present day. 

A still more beautiful scene awaited us in the evening. The 
paseo is then transferred to the plaza, and all the fashionable popu- 
lation appears on foot — a custom which I found in no other Mexi- 
can city. I went there at nine o'clock. The full moon was 
shining down over the cathedral towers ; the plaza was almost a.« 
distinct as by day, except that the shadows were deeper ; the 
white arches and pillars of the cortal were defined brilliant!}' 
against the black gloom of the corridor, and the rows of orange 
trees, with their leaves glittering in the moonlight, gave out a rare 
and exquisite odor from their hidden blossoms. We sat down OE 



TROPIC BEAUTY BY MOOiVLIGHT. 



381 



oue of the benches, so near the throng of promenaders passing 
around the plaza, that their dresses brushed our feet. The ladies 
were iu full dress, with their heads uncovered, and there were 
many specimens of tropic beauty among them. The faint clear 
olive of their complexion, like a warm sunset-light on alabaster — 
the deep, dark, languishing eye, with the full drooping lid that 
would fain conceal its fire — the ripe voluptuous lij) — ^he dark hair 
whose silky waves would have touched the ground had they been 
unbound — and the pliant grace and fullness of the form, formed 
together a type of beauty, which a little queenly ambition would 
have moulded into a living Cleopatra. A German band in front 
of the cathedral played " God save the King" and some of the 
melodies of the Fatherland. About ten o'clock, the throng began 
to disperse ; we sat nearly an hour longer, enjoying the delicious 
moonlight, coolness and fragrance, and when I lay down again on 
the tiles, so far from thinking of Touchstone, I felt glad and grate- 
ful for having seen Guadalajara. 

Among the Guadalajarans I met was Don Ramon Luna, a gen- 
tleman of great intelligence and refinement. His father emigrated 
from' Spain as a soldier in the ranks, but by prudence, energy 
and native talent, succeeded in amassing a large fortune. Don 
Ramon spoke English and French with great fluency, and was, 
moreover, very enthusiastic on the subject of Mexican antiquities. 
At his ranche, a few leagues from Guadalajara, he had, ds ho 
informed me, a large number of ancient idols and fossil remains, 
which the workmen had collected by his order. I regretted that 
the shortness of my stay did not permit me to call on Padre 
Najar, of the Convent del Carmen, who formerly resided in Philar- 
ilelphia, and published a very able work on the Otomai language. 

The diligence was to start on Monday. On Saturday afternooD 



382 ELDORADO. 

I sold my horse to a sort of trader living in the mason, for seven 
dollars, as he was somewhat worn out, and horses were cheap ir 
Guadalajara. The parting with my good hosts the next day tvas 
rather more difficult, and I was obliged to make a positive promise 
of retm-n within three years, before they would consent that T 
should go. After I had obtained some money and paid them foi 
my board, the old lady told me that thenceforth she would only 
charge half-price for every meal I chose to take in her house 
" Thanks to the Supreme King," said she, " I have not been so 
much in need that I should t^-eat friends and strangers both alike." 
x\fter this, I only paid a medio for my dinner of eggs, frijoles, 
lantecas and chili Colorado. On Sunday night I rolled up my 
few possessions in my sarape, took leave of the family and went 
to the Casa de Diligencias to spend the night. The old hostess 
threw her arms around me and gave me a hearty embrace, and 
the three daughters followed her example. I did not dislike this 
expression of friendship and regret, for they were quite beautiful. 
As I went down the court-yard, the voice of the mother followed 
me : "Go with Ave Mar 
la Ascencion Hidalgo !" 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

IN THE DILIGENCE TO GUANAJUATO. 

The mozo awoke me shortly after three o'clock, and before I 
had finished dressing, brought me a cup of foaming chocolate and 
a biscuit. The only other passenger was a student from Tepic, 
on his return to college, in Mexico. The stage already waited for 
us, and we had no sooner taken our seats on the leather cushions, 
than " vamonos P'' cried the driver, the whip cracked and the 
wheels thundered along the silent, moonlit streets. The morning 
was chill, and there was little in the dim glimpses of adobe walls 
and blank fields on either hand, to interest us ; so we lay back in 
the corners and took another nap. 

The style of diligence travel in Mexico is preferable to that of 
any other country. The passenger is waked at three o'clock in 
the morning, has a cup of chocolate brought him, (and no one has 
di-ank chocolate who has not drank it there) takes his seat, and has 
nearly reached the end of the second post by sunrise. The heavy 
stage, of Troy manufactuie, is drawn by six horses, four leaders 
abreast, who go at a dashing gallop as long as the road is level. 
About eleven o -clock a breakfast c f six or eight courses is served 
up in good style, the coachman waiting until the last man has 
leisure- : fiLishcd. There is no twani^ing of the horn and cry of 



384 ELDORADO. 

" All ready !" before one has bolted the first mouthful. Off again. 
there is no stoppage till the day's journey is over, which is gener- 
ally about four o'clock, allowing ample time for a long walk and 
sifjht-seeino; before dinner. 

The second post brought us to the Kio Santiago, which I had 
crossed once between Mazatlan and Tepic. We got out to looi 
at the old stone bridge and the mist of a cataract that rose above 
the banks, two or three hundred yards below. Our road lay across 
broad, stony tracts of country, diversified by patches of cactus ; 
in the distance, the mountain parapet of a still higher table-land 
was to be seen. The third post, thirty miles from Guadalajara, 
was at the village of Zapotlanejo, where the cholera had already 
appeared. The groom who assisted in harnessing our fresh horses, 
informed us that twenty persons had died of it. The place looked 
quiet and half-dessrted ; many of the houses were studded with 
little wooden crosses, stuck into the chinks of the adobes. The 
village of Tepatitlan, which we passed during the forenoon, was 
likewise a cholera locality. We dashed through it and over a bare, 
bleak upland, many leagues in width, in the middle of which stood 
the Kancho de la Tierra Colorada, (Ranche of the Red Earth) our 
breakfast-place. 

Puring the afternoon we crossed a very rough and stony bar- 
ranca. The chasm at the bottom was spanned by a fine bridge, 
and eight cj-eam-colored mules were in readiness to take us up the 
ascent. Even after reaching the level, the road was terribly rough, 
and the bounds which our stage made as it whirled along, threat- 
ened to disjoint every limb in our bodies. I received a stunning 
blow on the crown of my head, from being thrown up violently 
against the roof. We were truly rejoiced when, late in the after- 
noon, we saw the little town of San Miguel before us, in a hollow 



SAN JUAN DE LOS LAGOS. 385 

dip of the plain. "We finished a ride of ninety miles as we drove 
into it, and found the stage from Lagos already before the hotel. 
The town did not boast a single '^ sight," so my companion and I 
took a siesta until dinner was announced. 

The next morning our route lay over the dreary table-land, 
avoiding the many chasms and barrancas with which its surface 
was seamed ; often running upon a narrow ridge, with a gaping 
hollow on each side. The rancheros were ploughing in some 
places, but the greater part of the soil seemed to be given up to 
pasturage. The fields were divided by walls of stone, but fre- 
quently, in the little villages, a species of cactus had been planted 
so as to form gardens and corrals, its straight, single pillars stand- 
ing side by side, to the height of ten feet, with scarcely a crevice 
between. The people we met, were more hale and ruddy in 
their appearance than those of the Tierra Caliente. As they gal- 
loped alongside the stage, with their hats off, speaking with the 
driver, I thought I had never seen more lightly and strongly made 
forms, or more perfect teeth. When they laughed, their mouths 
seemed to blaze with the sparkling white rows exhibited. To- 
wards noon, we saw, far ahead, the tops of two towers, that ap- 
peared to rise out of the earth. They belonged to the church of 
San Juan de Los Lagos, the place of the great Annual Fair of 
Mexico — a city of five thousand inhabitants, built at the bottom 
of a deep circular basin, whose rim is only broken on one side by 
a gash which lets out the waters it collects in the rainy season. 
Seen from the edge of the basin, just before you commence the 
descent, a more fantastic picture could scarcely be imagined. 
The towers of the church are among the tallest in Mexico. During 
the Fair, the basin is filled to its brim, and a tent-city, containing 
from three hundred thousand to half a million inhabitants, ii* 
17 



oS6 ELDORADO. 

planted in it. From Sonora to Oajaca, all Mexico is there, with 
a good representation from Santa Fe, Texas and California. We 
descended by a zigzag road, of splendid masonry, crossed the gul- 
ley at the bottom by a superb bridge, and stopped at the Diligence 
Hotel for breakfast. The town was at prayers, on account of 
cholera. Five hundred people.had already died, and the epidemic 
was just beginning to abate. I saw several of the ignorant popu- 
lace issue from their huts on their knees, and thus climb their 
painful way up the hill to the cathedral, saying paternosters as 
they went. Two attendants went before, spreading sarapes on 
the stones, to save their knees, and taking them up after they had 
passed. We ate a hearty breakfast in spite of the terror around 
us, and resuming our seats in the diligence, were whhled over 
hill and plain till we saw the beautiful churches of Lagos in the 
distance. At the hotel, we found the stage from Zacatecas just 
in, bringing passengers for Mexico. 

I took an afternoon stroll through Lagos, visiting the market- 
place and principal churches, but found nothing worthy of parti- 
cular note. We arose in the moonlight, chocolated in the comedor^ 
or dining-hall, and took our seats — seven in all — in the diligence. 
We speedily left the neat, gay and pleasant city behind us, and 
began a journey which promised to be similar to that of the two 
preceding days — a view of barren table-land, covered with stone 
fences and cactus hedges, on either side, and blue mountains ever 
iu far perspective. With the sun, however, things looked more 
cheerful, and soon after entering on the third post, we climbed a 
stony ciTTo^ from which opened a splendid view of the Valley of 
Leon. Far as the vision extended, the effect was still heightened 
by a veil of thin blue vapor which arose from the broad leagues of 
field and meadow below us. In the centre of the pictur^e rose thfl 



THE VALLEY OF LEON. 387 

spires of Villa de Leon, from the midst of green barley-fields and 
gardens of fruit trees. To the eastward, beyond the valley — which 
to the south melted into the sky without a barrier — ran the high 
and rocky ranges of the mineral mountains of Guanajuato. We 
had nearly crossed the table-land of the Pacific side of Mexico, 
and these hills were spurs from the spinal ridge of the Continent. 

Our horses galloped into Leon — a large and lively town, which 
pleased me much better than Lagos. We had a capital breakfast 
of eight courses in the hall of the Sociedad del Comer do , and took 
in two fresh passengers, which just filled the diligence. Dashing 
out of the town, the road led over the level plain, between fields 
and gardens of great fertility. In the soft morning light, the 
animation and beauty of the scene were delightful. The peons 
were everywhere at work in the fields, watering the trees and vege- 
tables from wells, out of which they drew the water with long poles. 
At a bridge over the dry bed of a river near the town, I noticed a 
gang of about fifty ferocious fellows, in ragged sarapes. Several 
soldiers, well armed, paced up and down the road, and I after- 
wards learned that the diligence was frequently robbed there. Two 
long posts down the valley, made with horses going a carrera^ 
brought us to Silao. While the grooms were changing teams, we 
supplied ourselves with oranges, bananas, zapotes chicoi and 
granaditas de China. The latter fruit is about the size of an 
egg, with a brittle shell of a bright scarlet color, inside of which 
is a soft white sack. Breaking this open, the tender, fragrant 
pulp is revealed — the most dainty, exquisite thing that Nature ever 
compounded. We also bought an armful of sugar-cane, which we 
hung on the umbrella-hooks, and chopped up and chewed as 
,thirst required. 

From Silao to Guanajuato is but one post. Leaving the formei 



B8S ELDORADO. 

place, we approached a cape of the mountains, and traveled foi 
several miles over wild hills covered with immense cactus trees, 
the trunks of many of them measuring two feet in diameter. From 
the summit we looked down into a large mountain-basin, opening 
tovurds the south into the Valley of Leon. On its opposite side," 
among mountains whose summits are the more sterile from the 
glittering veins, of precious ore within, we saw the walls of some of 
the mining establishments of Guanajuato. 

Of all places in Mexico, the situation of this city is the most 
picturesque and remarkable. It lies like an enchanted city, 
buried in the heart of the mountains. Entering a rocky cafiada, 
the bottom of which barely affords room for the road, you pass 
between high adobe walls, above which, up the steep, rise tier 
above tier of blank, windowless, sun-dried houses, looking as if 
they had grown out of the earth. You would take them to be a 
sort of cubic chrystalization of the soil. Every corner in the wind- 
ings of the road is filled with the buildings of mining companies — 
huge fortresses of stone, ramparted as if for defence. The scene 
varies with every moment ; — now you look up to a church with 
purple dome and painted towers ; now the blank adobe walls, with 
here and there a spiry cypress or graceful palm between them, 
rise far above you, along the steep ledges of the mountain ; and 
again, the mountain itself, with its waste of rock and cactus, is all 
you see. The Canada finally seems to close. A precipice of 
rock — out of a rift in which the stream flows — shuts up the pas- 
sage. Ascending this by a twist in the road, you are in the heart 
of the city. Lying partly in the narrow bed of the ravine and 
partly on its sides and in its lateral branches, it is only by mount- 
ing to some higher eminence that one can realize its extent and 
position At the farther end of the city the mountains form a 



GUANJiJUATO AND ITS MINES. 389 

culde mc. The Canada is a blind passage, and you can only 
loave it by the road you came. The streets are narrow, crooked, 
and run up and down in all directions ; there is no room for 
plazas nor alamedas. A little triangular space in front of the 
cathedral, however, aspires to the former title. The city reminded 
me of descriptions of the old Moorish towns of Spain — not as they 
now exist, but as they stood in the fourteenth century. 

In the afternoon I took a walk through the city, climbing one 
of the hills to a cross planted on a small rocky point under the 
tortress of San Miguel. Thence I could look down on the twisted 
* streets and flat house-tops, and the busy flood of life circulating 
through all. The churches, with their painted spires and domes, 
gave a bizarre and picturesque character to the scene. Off" to the 
north, in the sides of the mountains, I could see the entrances to 
the silver mines, and the villages of the mining communities. 
Around Guanajuato there are more than a hundred mines, em- 
ploying about seventy-five thousand workmen. The business of 
Guanajuato is now very flourishing, the mines having in 1849 
yielded $8,400,000, or $600,000 more than the previous year. 
New mines have been opened on the rich vein of La Luz, which 
will soon be in a producing state, and promise much higher results. 
There is a fascination about the business, which is almost equal to 
that of play. The lucky discoverer of a new mine will frequently 
squander away the sudden wealth he has acquired in a week's dis- 
sipation. The wages of the common workmen vary from four 
reals to two dollars a day. 

Before night I visited the cathedral and the churches of San 
Diego and San Felipe — the latter a dark old structure, covered 
with quaint, half-Gothic ornaments, its front shaded by several 
.tall cypresses In the church of San Diego, i saw a picture of 



390 ' ELDORADO. 

grreat beauty, of the Mui'illo school, but hardly, I think, an ori 
ginal of the renowned master of Spanish painting. After dinner, 
while wandering about, looking at the fruit-stands, which were 
lighted with a red glow by smoky torches, I witnessed a curious 
ceremony. One of a band of robbers, who had been taken and 
convicted, was to be shot the next morning. All the bells in the 
city commenced tolling at sunset, and the incessant ding-dong 
they kept up for nearly two hours, was enough to drive one fran 
tic. I heard the sound of music, and saw the twinkling of wax 
tapers ; I therefore pressed through the crowd into the middle of 
the little plaza, to obtain a good view of the procession. First 
came a company of soldiers, with a military band, playing dirges ; 
after this the Bishop of the city bearing the Host, under a canopy 
of white and silver, borne, by priests, who also carried lanterns of 
blue glass ; another company of soldiers followed, and after them 
a long double line of citizens, each of whom held an immense 
burning taper in his hand. With the clang of bells and the wail 
of brazen instruments, they came towards us. The thousands in 
the plaza dropped on their knees, leaving me standing alone in the 
centre. A moment's reflection convinced me of the propriety of 
following their example, so I sank down between a woman with a 
very dirty rebosa and a black-bearded fellow, who might have been 
the comrade of the condemned robber. 

The procession, keeping a slow and measured pace, proceeded 
to the prison, where the sacrament of extreme unction was admin- 
istered to the criminal. It then returned to the cathedral, which 
was brilliantly lighted, and filled with a dense throng of people. 
The military band was stationed in the centre, under the dome, 
and mingled its harmonies with those of the powerful organ. I 
could o-et no furthor than the door-way, whence the whole interior- 



THE EVE OF A ROBBER's DEATH. 391 

w^s visible as a lighted picture, framed in the gloomy arch under 
which I stood. The rise and swell of the choral voices — the deep, 
istunning peal of the bells in the tower — the solemn attitude of the 
crowd, and the blaze of light under which all these imposing cere- 
monies were seen — made a powerful impression on me. The • 
people about me constantly repeated their paternosters, and 
seemed to feel a deep sympathy with the convicted. I remem- 
bered, that in the afternoon I had seen in the cathedral a man 
somewhat advanced in years, who was praying with an intensity of 
grief and supplication that made him for the time insensible to all 
else. His sobs and groans were so violent as to shake his whole 
frame ; I had never seen a more vehement expression of anguish. 
Thinking he might have been the robber's father, I began to have 
some compassion for the former, though now and then a wicked 
feeling of rejoicing would steal in, that another of the tribe was 
soon to be exterminated. The most curious feature of the scene 
was a company of small boys, carrying bundles of leaves on which 
was printed the " Last Dying Speech and Confession," in poetry, 
the burden being " AdioSj Guanajuato amado /" These boys 
were scattered through the crowd, crying out ; " Here you have 
my sentence, my confession, my death, my farewell, to Guanajuato 
— all for a cuartilla P The exercises were kept up so long, that 
finally I grew weary, and went to bed, where the incessant bells 
rang death-knells in my dreams. 

In Guanajuato I tasted pulque for the first and last time. 
Seeing a woman at the corner of a street with several large jars of 
what I took to be barley-water, I purchased a glass. I can only 
tikcn the taste of this beverage to a distillation of sour milk (if 
there could be such a thing) strongly tinctured with cayenne pep- 
oer and hartshorn. Men were going about the streets with cans 



392 ELDORADO. 

on their heads, containing ices made from tropical fruits, wMch 
were much more palatable. 

They even have authors in Guanajuato. On the theatre bills I 
saw the announcement that an original tragedy entitled " E 
Amor Conyugol^'''* by a young Guanajua tense, was in preparation 
* The precious comedy of the Two Fernandos and the Two Pe- 
pas" was to be given as an afterpiece — probably a travesty of the 
" Comedy of Errors." 



CHAPTER XXXVIir. 



MEXICO. 



We were roused in Gruanajuato at three o'clock in tlie morning; 
for the Jornada of one hundred and ten miles to Queretaro. A 
splendid moon was riding near the zenith, with her attendant star 
at her side ; and by her light we drove down the ominous depths 
of the caiiada. The clumsy leaves of the cactus, along the ledges 
of the hills, seemed in the uncertain light, like the heads of robbers 
peering over the rocks ; the crosses of the dead, here and there, 
spread out their black arms, and we were not free from all ap- 
prehensions of attack, until, after a post of three leagues, we 
reached the level and secure land of the Bajio. Once, only, a 
company of about twenty wild-looking men, whose weapons glit- 
tered in the moonlight, hooted at us as we passed ; we took them 
to be a part of the robber-band, on their way to Guanajuato to 
witness the execution of their comrade. 

In five posts we reached the city of Salamanca, where break- 
ftist was already on the table. No sooner had the final dish of fri- 
joles and cup of coffee been dispatched, than the cochero summoned 
us. The mozo drew away with a jerk the rope which held the 
four leaders ; the horses plunged and pranced till the luuibering 
mass of the diligence began to move, when they set off in a furious 



394 ELDORADO. 

gallop. For ten miles, over the level road, the speed wasscarcelv 
slackened, till we drew up at the next post, and exchanged our 
dusty and reeking steeds for a fresh team, as fiery and furious as 
the first. 

The country through which, we passed, is one of the riches! 
regions in Mexico. It is called the Bajio^ or Lowland, but is in 
fact an extent of table-land, about four thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, and only lower than the mountain-ridges which 
enclose it and draw from the upper clouds the streams that give 
it perpetual growth. From the city of Leon, near Lagos, it ex- 
tends to San Juan del Rio, beyond Queretaro — a distance of 
nearly two hundred miles. It is traversed by the Rio Lerma, the 
stream which, rising in the Volcano of Toluca (the neighbor of 
Popocatapetl) mingles with the waters of Lake Chapala, and after- 
wards — first as the Rio Blanco and then as the Rio Santiago — 
finds its way into the Pacific at San Bias. This immense level is 
all under fine cultivation and covered with thousand-acre fields of 
wheat, maize and barley in difierent stages of growth. The white 
fronts of haciendas gleamed from out their embowering gardens, 
in the distance, and the spires of the country towns, rising at in- 
tervals, gave life and animation to the picture. In the afternoon 
we passed the city of Zelaya, nearly smothered in clouds of dust 
that rose from the dry soil 

As we reached the boundary of the State of Queretaro, eight 
lancers, armed likewise with escopettes and holster-pistols, gal- 
loped out of the cactus on a wild, stony hill, and took their places 
on each side of us. They constituted a military escort (at the 
expense of the passengers,), to the gates of Queretaro. With their 
red pennons fluttering in the wind and their rugged little horses 
spurred into a gallop, they were very pictui-esque objects Oui 



A GAY PADRE. 395 

time was div^ided in watching their movements and looking out for 
the poles phinted by the roadside as a sign that robbers had beeL 
taken and shot there. 3Iy Mexican fellow-travelers pointed to 
these tokens of unscrupulous punishment with evident satisfac- 
tion. A large tree near Queretaro, with a great many lateral 
bi-anches, bears a sign with the words " For Ladrones,^^ (For 
Robbers,) in large letters. It is probably used when a whole 
company is caught at once. 

We drove into Queretaro after dark, and the only glimpse I had 
of the place was from the balcony of the hotel. I regretted not 
having arrived earlier, for the purpose of visiting the cotton manu- 
factory of Don Gaetano Rubib, which is the largest in the Repub- 
lic. Among the passengers in the diligence from Mexico, who 
joined us at the dinner-table, was a jovial padre, who talked con- 
stantly of the Monplaisir troupe of dancers and Coenen, the 
violinist. In fact, he was more familiar with American and Euro- 
pean theatricals than any one I had met for a long time, and 
gave me a ready account of the whereabouts of Cerito, Ellsler, 
Taglioni, and all the other divinities of the dance. He then com- 
menced a dissertation upon the character of the different modern 
languages. The English, he said, was the language of commerce ; 
the French, of conversation ; the Grerman, of diplomacy, because 
there were no words of double meaning in it ! — and the Spanish, 
of devotion. With his conversation and delio-htful cio-aritos, I 
passed the hour before bed-time very pleasantly. I never met a 
more lively and entertaining padre. 

We drove to the town of San Juan del Rio, eleven leagues dis- 
tant, for breakfast. A fresh escort was given us at every post, 
for which a fresh contribution of two reals was levied on each pas- 
senger. Towards evening, leaving the Bajio^ we came upon a 



396 ELDORADO. 

largo, arid llano^ flat as a table, and lying at the foot of the 
Mount of Capulalpan. A string of mules, carrying stone from the 
mountains, stretched across it, till they almost vanished in the 
perspective. One by one they came up out of the distance, emp- 
tied the stones, which were heaped upon their backs in rough 
wicker frames, and turned about to repeat the journey.. They 
belonged to the estate of Senor Zurutuza, proprietor of the dili- 
gence lines of Mexico, who shows as much prudence and skill in 
the cultivation of his lands as in the arrangement of his stages 
and hotels. The estate which he purchased of the Mexican 
Government, at a' cost of $300,000, contains thirty-seven square 
leagues, nearly all of which is arable land. The buildings stand 
in a little valley, nine thousand feet above the sea. The principal 
storehouse is two hundred feet square, and solid as a fortress. An 
arched entrance, closed by massive gates, leads to a paved court- 
yard, around which runs a lofty gallery, with pillars of oak resting 
on blocks of lava. Under this shelter were stored immense piles 
of wheat and chopped straw. On the outside, a number of per- 
sons were employed in removing the grain from a large circular 
floor of masonry, where it had been trodden out by mules, and 
separating it from the chafl" by tossing it diligently in the wind. 
The hotel for the accommodation of travelers, is a new and ele- 
gant structure, and a decided improvement on other buildings of 
the kind in Mexico. 

We slept soundly in the several rootas allotted to us, and by 
daybreak next morning were on the summit of the Pass of Capu- 
lalpan, about eleven thousand feet above the sea. The air was 
thin and cold ; the timber was principally oak, of a stunted and 
hardy kind, and the general appearance of the place is desolate in 
the extreme. Here, where the streams of the two oceans are 



APPROACHING MEXICO. 397 

divided, the first view of Popocatapetl, at more than a hundred 
miles distance, greets the traveler. A descent of many miles, 
through splendid plantations, lying in the lap of the mountains, 
brought us to the old town of Tula, on the banks of the Tula 
River, which empties into the Grulf, at Tampico. Here we break- 
fasted, and then started on our last stage towards the capital. 
Crossing a low range of hills, we reached the Desagua, an immense 
canal, cut for the draining of the Valley of Mexico. The after- 
noon was hot and breezeless ; clouds of dust enveloped and almost 
stifled us, rising as they rolled away till they looked like slender 
pillars, swayed from side to side by the vibrations of the an*. We 
passed the towns of Guatitlan and Tanepantla, where we only 
stopped to get a drink of tepache^ a most nourishing and refresh- 
ing beverage, compounded of parched corn, pineapple, and sugar 
The road was hedged by immense aloes, some of which had leaves 
ten feet in length : they are cultivated in great quantities for the 
pulque, which is manufactured from their juice. A few hours of 
this travel, on the level floor of the Yalley of Mexico, brought us 
to the suburbs, where we met scores of people in carriages and on 
horseback, going out to take their evening 'paseo around the Ala- 
meda. Rattling over the streets of the spacious capital, in a few 
minutes we were brought to a stand in the yard of the Casa de 
Diligencias. 

A few minutes after my arrival, the Vera Cruz stage drore lato 
the yard. The first person who jumped out was my friend Mr. 
Parrot, U. S. Consul at Mazatlan. Gov. Letcher, our Envoy to 
Mexico, came in the same stage, but was met at the Peiion Grande 
by a number of Americans in carriages, and brought into the city 
It is a pleasant thing to have friends of your own size. I made 
my first appearance in the City of the Montezumas cohered with 



398 



ELDORADO. 



dust and clad in the weather-beaten corduroys, which were all the 
robbers left me. Thanks to the kind offer of Mr. Parrot and Mr 
Peyton, who accompanied him, I sat down to dinner in half an 
hour afterwards, looking and feeling much moie like a memboi 
of civilized society. 



i 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

SCENES IN THE MEXICAN CAPITAL. 

I SALLIED out, on the bright sunny morning after reaching 
Mexico, to make a survey of the city. The sky was cloudless 
except on the horizon, in the direction of Popocatapetl, and the 
air was charmingly cool and fresh. Its rarity, by accelerating the 
breathing, had a stimulating effect, but I found that a faster pace 
than ordinary exhausted me in a few minutes. Most of the shops 
were closed, and the people from the neighboring villages began 
to come in fof the morning mass. The streets are broad, tolerably 
clean, and have an air of solidity and massive strength beyond 
that of any modern city. The houses are all of stone, with few 
windows on the streets, but an arched gateway in the centre, 
leading to a patio, or courtyard, where the only correct view of 
their size and magnificence may be obtained. The glimpses 
through these gateways, while passing, are often very beauti- 
ful — the richly-sculptured frame of stone enclosing a sunny pic- 
ture of a fountain, a cluster of orange-trees, or the slender, grace- 
ful arches of the corridor. The buildings are painted of some 
light, fresh color, pink and white being predominant ; some of 
them, indeed, are entirely covered with arabesque patterns in 
fresco. The streets run at right angles, with nearly Philadelphian 



409 ELDORADO. 

regularity, but the system of naming them is very confusing to a 
stranger. A name extends no farther than a single block, the 
same street having sometimes as many as twenty different names 
in different places. Thus, while there are several thousand names 
of streets in the city, (all of them long and difficult to remember) 
the actual number of streets is small. 

I wandered about for some time, looking for the Grand Plaza, 
and at last fell into the wake of the mass-going crowd, as the 
surest way to find it. It is in the very centre of the city, though 
the business quarter lies almost entirely on the western side. It 
is one of the most imposing squares in the world, and still far in- 
ferior to what it might be made. It covers about fourteen acres, 
which are entirely open and unbroken, except by a double row of 
orange-trees in front of the Cathedral. The splendid equestrian 
statue of' Charles IV. by the sculptor Tolsa, which formerly 
stood in the centre, has been removed since the war of Independ- 
ence, and the Government has never been able to replace it by 
something more to its republican taste. The National Palace, 
with a front of five hundred feet, occupies nearly the entire eastern 
side of the plaza, while the Cathedral, jvith a church adjoining, 
fills the northern. Around the other sides runs a cortal^ whose 
arches are nearly blocked up by the wares and gay fabrics there 
disposed for sale. One of the houses forming this cortal was built 
by Cortez, and is still owned by his descendants. As in our own 
cities, there is a row of hacks strung along one side of the plaza, 
the drivers of which assail you with continual invitations to ride. 

The Cathedral is grand and impressive from its very size, but 
the effect of the front is greatly injured by its incongruous style of 
architecture. There seems to have been no single design adopted^ 
but after half had been built, the architect changed his plan and 



INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL. 401 

finished the remainder in a diflferent style. The front, as high as 
the Cathedral roof, has a venerable appearance of age and neglect, 
while the two massive, square, unadorned towers rising from it. 
aie as brilliantly white and fresh as if erected yesterday. The 
front of the chui'ch adjoining is embossed with very elaborate or- 
naments of sculpture, all showing the same disregard of architec- 
tural unity. The interior of the Cathedral is far more perfect in 
its structure. The nave, resting its lofty arch on pillars of a 
Bemi-Grothic character, with the gorgeous pile of the high-altar at 
its extremity, blazing with gold and silver and precious marbles, 
looks truly sublime in the dim, subdued light which fills it. The 
railing around the altar is solid silver, as well as the lamps which 
burn before it. In the shrines along the side aisles there are many 
paintings of fine character, but everywhere the same flash of gold 
and appearance of lavish treasure. The Cathedral was crowded 
to the very door by a throng of rancheros, Indians, stately ladies 
in silks and jewels, soldiers and leperos, kneeling side by side. 
Tne sound of the organ, bearing on its full flood the blended 
voices of the choir, pealed magnificently through the nave. There 
were some very fine voices among the singers, but their perform- 
ance was wanting in the grand and perfect unison which distin- 
guishes the Italian chorus. 

In the afternoon, there was a great fair or festival at Tacu- 
baya, and half the population of the city went out to attend it. 
The stages in front of the Diligence Hotel, which bore the in- 
scription on their sides : " A Tacuhaya^ "por 2 realeSj^^ were 
jammed with passengers. I preferred a quiet walk in the Ala- 
meda to a suffocating ride in the heat and dust, and so did mj 
friend, Peyton. The Alameda is a charming place, completely 
shaded by tall trees, and musical with the plash of fountains. 



i02 ELDORADO. 

Through its long avenues of foliage, the gay equipages rf the 
aristocracy may be seen rolling to and from the jiaseo — Presitlent 
Herrera, in a light, open carriage, followed by a guard of honor, 
among them. We roamed through the cool, shaded walks, find- 
ing sufficient amusement in the curious groups and characters we 
constantly met until the afternoon shadows grew long and the sun 
had nearly touched the Nevada of Toluca. Then, joining the in- 
creasing crowd, we followed the string of carriages past a guard- 
house where a company of trumpeters shattered all the surround- 
ing air by incessant prolonged blasts, that nearly tore up the 
paving-stones. A beautiful road, planted with trees, and flanked 
by convenient stone benches, extended beyond for about a mile, 
having a circle at its further end, around which the carriages 
passed, and took their stations in the return line. We sat down 
on one of the benches facing the ring, enjoying the tranquillity of 
the sunset and the animation of the scene before us. The towei*s 
of Mexico rose behind us, above the gardens which belt the city ; 
the rock of Chapultepec was just visible in front, and far to the 
south-east, a snowy glimmer, out of the midst of a pile of clouds, 
revealed the cone of Popocatapetl. Among the equipages were 
some of great magnificence : that of Don Gaetano Rubio was 
perhaps the most costly. Large American horses are in great 
demand for these displays, and a thousand dollars a pair is fre- 
quently paid for them. The mixture of imported vehicles — Eng- 
lish, French and American — with the bomb-proof arks and move- 
able fortifications of the country, was very amusing, though their 
contrast was not more marked than that of the occupants. The 
great ambition of a Mexican family is to ride in a carriage on all 
public occasions, and there are hundreds who starve themselves 



SMOKING IN THE THEATRE. 403 

on tortillas and deny themselves every comfort but the cigaritO; 
that they may pay the necessary hire. 

I went one evening to the Teatro de Santa Anna, which is one 
of the finest theatres in the world. On this occasion, the per- 
formance might have honorably stood the ordeal of even Paris 
criticism There was a ballet by the Monplaisir troupe, songs by 
the prima donna of the native opera and violin solos by Franz 
Coenen. The theatre is very large, having, if I remember rightly, 
five tiers of boxes, yet it was crowded in every part. There was 
a great display of costly dresses and jewelry, but I saw much. less 
beauty than on the moonlit plaza of Gruadalajara. The tendency 
of the Mexican women to corpulency very soon destroys the bloom 
and graces of youth ; indeed, their season of beauty is even more 
brief than in the United States. Between the acts the spectators 
invariably fell to smoking. The gentlemen lit their j^uros^ the 
ladies produced their delicate boxes of cigaritos and their matches, 
and for some minutes after the curtain fell, there was a continual 
snapping and fizzing of brimstone all over the house. By the time 
the curtain was ready to rise, the air was sensibly obscured, and 
the chandeliers glimmered through a blue haze. At home, this 
habit of smoking by the ladies is rather graceful and pretty ; the 
fine paper cigar is handled with an elegance that shows ofi" the 
little arts and courtesies of Spanish character, with the same efi'eet 
as a fan or a bouquet ; but a whole congregation of women smok- 
ing together, I must admit, did take away much of the reverence 
with which we are wont to regard the sex. Because a lady may 
be a Juno in beauty, is no reason why she should thus retire into 
a cloud — nor is the odor of stale tobacco particularly Olympian. 

The streets of Mexico are always an interesting study. E yen 



404 ELDORADO. 

after visiting the other large cities of the Republic, one is here in- 
troduced to new and interesting types of Mexican humanity 
Faces of the pure Aztec blood are still to be found in the squares 
and market-places, and the canal which joins Lakes Chalco and 
Tezcuco is filled with their flat canoes, laden with fruits, vegetables' 
and flowers. They have degenerated in everything but their hos- 
tility to the Spanish race, which is almost as strong as in the days 
of Montezuma. The leper os constitute another and still more dis- 
gusting class ; no part of the city is free from them. They im- 
plore you for alms with bended knees and clasped hands, at every 
turn ; theypick your pockets in broad daylight, or snatch away 
your cloak if there is a good opportunity ; and if it be an object 
with any one to have you removed from this sphere of being, they 
will murder you for a small consideration. The second night T 
spent in Mexico, my pocket was picked in the act of passing a 
corner where two or three of them were standing in a group. I 
discovered the loss before I had gone ten steps further ; but, 
though I turned immediately, there was no one to be seen. The 
aguadores^ or water-carriers, are another interesting class, as they 
■go about with heavy earthen jars suspended on their backs by a 
band about the forehead, and another] smaller jar swinging in 
front to balance it, by a band over the top of the head. The 
priests, in their black cassocks and shovel hats with brims a yard 
long, are curious figures ; the monasteries in the city send out 
large numbers of fat and sensual friars, whose conduct even in pub- 
lic is a scandal to the respectable part of the community. In all 
the features of its out-door life, Mexico is quite as motley and 
picturesque as any of the old cities of Spain. The Republic 
seems to have in no way changed the ancient order, except by 



AZTEC ANTIQUITIES. 405 

tearing down all the emblems of royalty and substituting the eagle 
ftnd cactus in theu- stead. 

The scarcity of all antiquities of the Aztej race, will strike 
travelers who visit the city. Not one stone- of the ancient capital 
has been left upon another, while, by the gradual recession of the 
\7aters of the lakes, the present Mexico, though built precisely on 
the site of the ancient one, stands on dry ground. There are fre- 
quently inundations, it is true, caused by long-continued rains, 
which the mountain slopes to the north-east and south-west send 
into the valley, but the construction of the Desagua — an immense 
canal connecting Lake Tezcuco with the Rio Montezuma — has 
greatly lessened the danger. Of all the temples, palaces, and 
public edifices of the Aztecs, the only remains are the celebrated 
Calendar, built into one corner of the cathedral, the Sacrificial 
Stone and a collection of granite gods in the National Museum. 
The Calendar is an immense circular stone, probably ten feet in 
diameter, containing the divisions of the Aztec year, and the as- 
tronomical signs used by that remarkable people. The remaining 
antiquities are piled up neglectedly in the court-yard of the Mu- 
seum, where the stupid natives come to stare at them, awed, yet 
apparently fascinated by their huge, terrible features. The 
Sacrificial Stone is in perfect preservation. It is like a great 
mill-stone of some ten or twelve feet diameter, with a hollow in 
the centre, from which a groove slants to the edge, to carry away 
the blood of the victim. Scattered around it on the pavement 
were idols of all grotesque forms, feathered serpents and hideous 
oombinations of human and animal figures. The Aztec war-god, 
Quetzalcoatl, was the hugest and most striking of all. He was 
iibout fourteen feet in height, with four faces, and as man^ 
pairs of arms and legs, fronting towards the quarters of the com- 



40G ELDORADO. 

pass ; his mouth was open and tongue projecting, and in the 
hollow thus formed, the heart of the victim was thrust, whilt yet 
warm and palpitating. His grim features struck me with awe 
and something like terror, when I thought of the thousands of hu- 
man hearts that had stained his insatiate tongues. Here, at least, 
tlie Aztecs had a truer conception of the Spirit of War than our- 
selves. "We still retain the Mars of the poetic Greeks — a figure 
of strength and energy, and glorious ardor only — not the grand 
monster which all barbaric tribes, to whom war is a natural instinct, 
build for their worship. 

There are some relics of the Spanish race in this museum, 
which I should not omit to mention. In one dusty corner, be- 
hind a little wooden railing, are exhibited the coats-of-mail of 
Cortez and Alvarado. The great Cortez, to judge from his helmet, 
breast-plate and cuishes, was a short, broad-chested and powerful 
man — the very build for daring and endurance. Alvarado was a 
little taller and more slight, which may account for his celebrated 
leap — the measure of which is still shown on a wall near the city, 
though the ditch is filled up. In the centre of the court-yard 
stands the celebrated equestrian statue of Charles IV., by the 
Mexican sculptor, Tolsa. It is of bronze, and colossal size. In 
the general spirit and forward action of the figures, it is one of 
the best equestrian statues in the world. The horse, which 
was modeled from an Andalusian stallion of pure blood, has 
baon censured. It differs, in fact, very greatly from the per- 
fect Grrecian model, especially in the heavy chest and short 
round flank ; but those who have seen the Andalusian horse 
consider it a perfect type of that breed It is a work in which 
Mexico may well glory, for any country might be proud to have 
produced it. 



CHAPTER XL. 

MEXICAN POLITICS AND POLITICAL MEN. 

I SPENT one morning during my stay in Mexico, in visiting both 
Houses of the Mexican Congress, which were then in session, in 
the National Palace. I could not but regret, on approaching this 
edifice, that so fine an opportunity for architectural efl^ect had 
been lost through a clumsy and incongruous plan of building. 
The front of five hundred feet, had it been raised another story, 
and its flat pink surface relieved by a few simple pilasters and cor- 
nices, would have equaled that of the Pitti Palace or the Royal 
Residenz in Munich. One of its court-yards, with a fountain in 
the centre and double gallery running around the four sides, is 
neverthebss complete and very beautiful. While looking out of 
the windows of the Palace on the magnificent square, the foremost 
picture in my mind's eye was not that of Cortez and Alvarado, 
battling their way back to Tlascala, after the '^ Noche Triste ;" 
not that of the splendid trains of the Viceroys of yet powerful 
Spain ; but the triumphal entry of Scott, when the little army that 
had fought its way in from Chapultepec, greeted his appearauc b 
on the Plaza with huzzas that brought tears even into Mexican 
eyes. Think as one may of the character of the war, there are 
scenes in it which stir the blood and brighten the eye. 



408 ELDORADO. 

Mr. Belden, an American many years resident in Mexico, ac- 
companied me to the Halls of Congress, and pointed out the prin- 
cipal characters present. We first visited the Senate Chamber — 
a small elliptical room in the centre of the Palace. There were 
no* desks except for the Secretaries, the members being seated on 
a continuous bench, which ran around the room, with a rail in front 
of it. Probably two-thirds of the Senators — fifteen or twenty in 
all — were present. The best head among them is that of Otero, 
who, I think, was one of the Cabinet during the war. He is a 
large, strongly-built man, with features expressing not only intel- 
ligence, but power. At the end of the room sat Don Luis Cuevas, 
one of the Comuxissioners who signed the Treaty of Gruadalupe 
Hidalgo — a man of polished bearing, and, from appearance, some- 
thing of a diplomat. Gen. Almonte, whose low forehead, broad 
cheek-bones and dark skin betray his Indian blood, occupied the 
seat next to Pedraza, the President of a few days during a revo- 
lution in 1828. Almonte is the son of the Liberator Morelos, 
and that circumstance alone gave him an interest in my eyes. 

The demeanor of the Senate is exceedingly quiet and grave. 
The speeches are short, though not, in consequence, always to the 
point. On the contrary, I am told that any definite action on any 
subject is as difficult to be had as in our own Congress. It is 
better, however, to do nothing decorously, than after a riotous 
fashion. 

The Hall of Congress fronts on one of the inner courts of the 
Palace. It is semi-circular in form, and lighted by windows of 
blue glass, near the top. As in the Senate, the members have no 
desks, but are ranged along two semi-circular benches, the outer one 
raised a step from the floor. The Speaker sits on a broad plat- 
brm, in front of the centre of the chord, with two Secretaries on 



THE HALL OF CONGRESS. 409 

each baud. At each corner of the platform is a circular pulpit, 
just large enough to take in a spare man nearly to the armpits 
They are used by the members for set harangues. Behind tho 
Speaker's chair, and elevated above it, is a sort of throne wi'^ii 
two seats, under a crimson canopy. Here, the President of the 
Republic and the Speaker of Congress take their seats, at the 
Dpening and close of each Session. Above the canopy, in a gilded 
frame, on a ground of the Mexican tricolor, hangs the sword of 
Iturbide. A picture of the Virgin of Gruadalupe, with her blue 
mantle and silver stars, completes the decorations. Around the 
architrave of the pillars which form the semi-circle and across the 
cornice of the chord, are inscribed, in letters of gold, the names 
of the Mexican Chiefs of the War of Independence — conspicuous 
among them those of Mdrelos, Bravo, Victoria and Mina. 

The Mexican Congress elects its Speaker monthly. The in- 
cumbent at the time, Portillo, was a young man, who presided 
with admirable dignity and decorum. As in the Senate, the 
members exhibit a grave and courteous demeanor ; the etiquette 
of dignified legislation, I presume, is never violated. The only 
notable Representative present was Arrangoiz, whose name is well 
known in the United States. I was disappointed in not seeing 
Alaman, the head of the Monarchist faction, Editor of the Uni- 
versal^ and authoj- of an jxcellent History of Mexico, then in the 
course of publication. Two or three short speeches were made 
during my visit, but I was not sufficiently versed either in the lan- 
guage or politics, to get more than the general drift of them. 
Congress appeared to be doing nothing satisfactory ; the thinking 
population (a very small number) were discontented, and with 
reason. A short time previous, the Report of the Committee of 

Finance came up for discussion. Aft'er engaging the House foi 
18 



410 ELDORADO. 

srv'eial days, (luring which many warm speeches were made od 
both sides, all seemed ready for a decision ; when, lo ! the mem- 
bers suddenly determined that they had no right to vote upon it . 
One o'clock the same afternoon was the hour appointed for the 
presentation 6f Mr. Letcher, the new Envoy from the United 
States. On coming out of the Senate Chamber we noticed that 
the corridor leading to the rooms of the President was deserted by 
the groups of officers in full uniform who had been lounging about 
the door. Entering the ante-chamber, we found that Mr. Letchej , 
with Mr. Walsh, Secretary of Legation, had just passed into the 
Hall of Audience. Mr. Belden was well known to all the officers 
of Grovernment, and his company procured us admission at once. 
We took our places among the Secretaries of the different De- 
partments, about half way up the Hall. txen. Herrera, the Presi- 
dent, was seated on a platform at the end of the room, under a 
crimson canopy, having on his right hand Lacunza, Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, and on his left Castaneda, Minister of Justice 
The other Ministers, with a number of officers of the General 
Staff, were ranged at the foot of the platform. Mr. Letcher had 
just commenced his address as we entered. He appeared slightly 
embarrassed during the first phrases, but soon recovered the proper 
composure. I had no doubt, however, that he would have felt 
much more at home in making a stump speech in his native Ken- 
tucky. His address consisted mainly of expressions of good will 
on the part of the United States, and a desire for more intimate 
and amicable relations between the two Grovernments. Gren. Her- 
rera, on receiving the letters accrediting Mr. Letcher, replied in a 
neat speech, cordially responding to the expressions of amity which 
had been made, and invoking for both nations the same harmonj 



IIEKRIiKA AND 1II> GOVEHNM EXT 411 

in their mutual relations as they ah-eady possessed in their consti- 
tutional forms. 

After the interchange of a few complimentSj Mr. Letcher took 
his leave, and immediately afterwards the President rose and left 
the hall, in company with his Ministers. He bowed to us in pass- 
ing, probably recognizing us as Americans. He is a man of about 
sixty, of short stature, and with a countenance whose prominent 
*exp)-ession is honesty and benevolence. This corresponds with 
the popular idea of his chai-acter. He is a man of excellent 
heart, but lacks energy and determination. His Government 
though quiet and peaceful enough at present, is not sufficiently 
ijtrong for Mexico. So long as the several States continue to defy 
and violate the Federal Compact, a powerful Head is needed to 
the General Government. The rule of Herrera met with no open 
opposition At the time of my visit, the country was perfectly 
quiet. The insurrection in the Sierra Madre had been entirely 
quelled, and the ravages of the Indians in Durango and Chihuahua 
appeared to have subsided for a time. Nevertheless, the Conser- 
vative party, whose tendency is towards a monarchy, was said to 
be on the increase — a fact no doubt attributable to the influence 
and abilities of Alaman, its avowed leader. The name of Santa 
Anna had been brought forward by his friends, as a candidate for 
Congress from the district of the Capital, though his success was 
scarcely a matter of hope. 

The Government was still deeply embarrassed by its forced 
loans, and Congress took the very worst means to settle its diffi- 
culty. A committee, appointed to report some plan of settlement, 
tnade the following propositions, which I here give, as a curiosity 
iTi legislation: — 1. That the Government be authorized to make 
gn amicable arrangement with its creditors, within the space of 



12 



ELDORADO. 



forty days. (!) '<;. That such arrangement cannot take effecl 
without the approbation of Congress ; (!!) and 3. That t-ie Go- 
vernment be authorized to accept a further sum of $300,000 on 
the American indemnity. The resignation of Senor Elorriaga 
tlie Minister of Finance, was fully expected, and took place, in 
fact, about three weeks after I left. Very few Ministers hold this 
office more than two or three months. The entire want of confi- 
dence between the Executive and Legislative Departments utterly 
destroys the efficiency of the Mexican Government. The Minis- 
ters wear a chain, which is sometimes so shortened by the caprice 
of Congress, that the proper exercise of their functions is rendered 
impossible. 

Several of the States had a short time previous been taking 
singular liberties with the Constitution. For instance, the Legis- 
latures of Zacatecas, Durango and Jalisco, had separately passed 
laws regulating the revenue not only on internal commerce, but 
foreign imports ! The duties on many articles were enormous, 
as, for instance, in the State of Jalisco, 37 1-2 cents p^r lb. on 
tobacco, and 75 cents on snuff. Zacatecas, with a curious dis- 
crimination, imposed a duty of 12 1-2 per cent, on home manu- 
factures, and 5 per cent, on foreign merchandise ! In such a 
state of things one knows not which most to wonder at, the 
audacity of the States, or the patient sufferance of the Supreme 
Government. 

I scanned with some curiosity the faces and forms of the chief 
officers of the Republic as they passed. 

Herrera wore the uniform of a general — a more simple costume 
than that of the other officers present, whose coats were orna- 
mented with red facings and a profusion of gold embroidery. The 
Ministers, except Arista, were dressed in plain suits of black. 



THE MINISTERS EDITORS. 41'-i 

Lacunza is a man of low stature and dark complexion, and a 
barely perceptible cast of shrewdness is mingled with the natural 
Intelligence of his features. Castaiieda, on the other hand, ia 
tall, thin, with a face of which you are certain, at the first glance^ 
that it knows how to keep its owner's secrets. The finest-looking 
man present was Gren. Arista, who is six feet high, and stout in 
proportion, with a large head, light hair closely cropped, fair com- 
plexion and gray eyes. From the cast of his features, one would 
take him to be a great overgrown Scotch boy, who had somehow 
blundered into a generalship. He is said to have the-most in- 
fluential hand in the Cabinet. Among the States of the North 
there is, as is well known, a powerful party devoted to his in- 
terests. 

While in Mexico, I had the pleasure of meeting with Don 
Vicente Garcia Torres, the talented editor of the Monitor Re- 
publicanOy as well as with several of the writers for El Siglo Diez 
y Nueve. To M. Rene Masson, the enterprising editor and pro- 
prietor of Le Trait D'' Union, (the only foreign journal in 
Mexico,) I was also indebted for many courteous attentions. 
His paper is conducted with more industry and gives a more in- 
telligible view of Mexican afikirs than any of the native prints. 
The Count de la Cortina, the most accomplished writer in 
Mexico, and author of several works, was pointed out to me in the 
street one day. He possesses a princely fortune and the finest 
pi(iture-gallery in America. 



CHAPTER XLL 

RIDES TO CHAPULTEPEC AND GUADALUPE, 

No American, whatever be his moral creed or political 
sentiments, should pass through Mexico without a visit to the 
battle-fields in the Valley, where his country's ai-ms obtained 
such signal triumphs. To me they had a more direct, thrilling in- 
terest than the remains of Aztec Empire or the Spanish Vice- 
royalty. I was fortunate in seeing them with a companion, to 
whom every rood of ground was familiar, and who could trace all 
the operations of Scott's army, from San Augustin to the Grand 
Plaza in the city. We started for Chapultepec one fine afternoon, 
with Mr. Belden, taking his carriage and span of black mules. We 
drove first to the Garita de Belen, where one of the aqueducts 
enters the city. Here a strong barricade was carri3d after the 
taking of Chapultepec by Pillow's division, while Worth, follow- 
ing down the line of the other aqueduct, got possession of the 
Garita de San Cosme. The brick arches are chipped with shot^ 
for the whole distance of three miles. The American troops ad- 
7anced by springing from arch to arch, being exposed, as they 
approache'd the Garita, to a cross-fire from two batteries. The 
running battle of the Aqueducts, from Chapultepec to Mexico, 
a distance of three miles, was a brilliant achievement, and nad 



Montezuma's garden. 415 

not our forces been so flushed and excited with the storming of 
the height, and the spirit of the Mexicans proportionately lessened, 
the slaughter must have been terrible. 

We followed the aqueduct, looking through its arches on the 
green wheat-fields of the Valley, the shining villages in the dis- 
tance and sometimes the volcanoes, as the clouds grew thinner 
about their white summits. At last, we reached ^e gate 
of Chapultepec. Mr. Belden was known to the oflScer on guard, 
and we passed unchallenged into the shade of Montezuma's cy- 
presses. Chapultepec is a volcanic hill, probably two hundred 
feet in height, standing isolated on the level floor of the valley. 
Around its base is the grove of cypress trees, known as Montezu- 
ma's Garden — great, gnarled trunks, which have been formed by 
the annual rings of a thousand years, bearing aloft a burden of 
heavy and wide-extending boughs, with venerable beards of gray 
moss. The changeless black-green of the foliage, the dull, wintry 
hue of the moss, and the gloomy shadows which always invest this 
grove, spoke to me more -solemnly of the Past — of ancient empire, 
now overthrown, ancient splendor, now fallen into dust, and an- 
cient creeds now forgotten and contemned, — than the shattered 
pillars of the Roman Forum or the violated tombs af Etruria. I 
saw them on, a shaded, windless day, with faint glimmerings of 
sunshine between the black and heavy masses of cloud. The air 
was so still that not a filament of the long mossy streamers trem- 
bled ; the trees stood like giant images of bronze around the rocky 
foot of the hill. The father of the band, who, like a hoary-head(^d 
seneschal, is stationed at the base of the ascending carriage-way, 
measures forty-five feet in circumference, and there are in the 
grove several others of dimensions but little inferior. The first 



41(5 ELDORADO. 

onset of our troops, in storming Chapultepec, was made undei 
cover of these trees. 

Leaving our carriage and mules in charge of the old cypress, we 
climbed the hill on foot. The zigzag road still retains its embank 
ment of adobes and the small corner-batteries thrown up in anti- 
cipation of the attack ; the marks of the cannon-balls from Tacu- 
baya and the high ground behind Molino del Rey, are everywher 
nsible. The fortress on the summit of Chapultepec has been for 
many years used as a National Military Academy. We found a 
company of the cadets playing ball on a graveled terrace in front 
of the entrance. One of them escorted us to the private apart- 
ments of the commanding officer, which are built along the edge 
of a crag, on the side towards Mexico. Mr. Belden was well ac- 
quainted with the officer, but, unfortunately, he was absent. His 
wife, however, received us with great courtesy and sent for one of 
the Lieutenants attached to the Academy. A splendid Munich 
telescope was brought from the observatory, and we adjourned to 
the balcony for a view of the Valley of Mexico. 

I wish there was a perspective in words — something beyond the 
mere suggestiveness of sound — some truer representative of color, 
and light, and grand aerial distance ; for I scarcely know how else 
to paint the world-wide panorama spread around me. Chapultepec, 
as I have said before, stands isolated in the centre of the Valley. 
The mountains of Toluca approach to within fifteen miles beyond 
Tacubaya, and the island-like hills of Gruadalupe are not very dis- 
tant, on the opposite side ; but in nearly every other direction 
the valley fades away for fifty or sixty miles before striking the 
foot of the mountains. The forms of the chains which wall in 
this little world are made irregular and wonderfully picturesque 
by the embaying curves of the Valley — now receding far and faint, 



THE PANORAMA OF THE VALLEY. 417 

now piled nearer in rugged and barren grandeur, now tipped with 
a spot of snow, like the Volcano of Toluca, or shooting far into 
the sky a dazzling cone, like cloud-girdled Popocatapel. But 
the matchless Valley — how shall I describe that ? How reflect on 
this poor page its boundless painting of fields and gardens, its sil- 
very plantations of aloes, its fertilizing canals, its shimmering 
lakes, embowered villages and convents, and the many-towered ca- 
pital in the centre — the boss of its great enameled shield ? Before us 
the aqueducts ran on their thousand arches towards the city, the 
water sparkling in their open tops ; the towers of the cathedral, 
touched with a break of sunshine, shone white as silver against the 
cloud-shadowed mountains ; Tacubaya lay behind, with its palaces 
and gardens ; .farther to the north Tacuba, with the lone cypress 
of the " Noche Triste," and eastward, on the point of a mountain- 
cape shooting out towards Lake Tezcuco, we saw the shrine of 
Our Lady of Gruadalupe. .Around the foot of our rocky watch- 
tower, we looked down on the heads of the cypresses, out of whose 
dark masses it seemed to rise, sundered by that weird ring from 
the warmth and light and beauty of the far-reaching valley-A7orld. 
"We overlooked all the battle-gi'ounds of the Valley, but I felt 
a hesitancy at first in asking the Lieutenant to point out the lo- 
calities. Mr. Belden at length asked whether we could see the 
height of Padierna, or the pedregal (field of lava) which lies to 
the left of it. The officer immediately understood our wish, and 
turning the glass first upon the Penon Grande, (an isolated hill 
near Ayotla,) traced the march of Gen. Scott's army around Lake 
Chalco to the town of San Augustin, near which the first hostilities 
commenced. We could see but a portion of the field of Padierna, 
more familiarly known as Contreras. It lies on the lower slopes 
of the Nevada of Toluca, and overlooking the scenes of the subse- 



418 ELDORADO. 

quent actions. The country is rough and broken^ and the cross- 
ing of the famed pedregaly from the far glimpse I had of the 
ground, must have been a work of great labor and peril. Nearly 
east of this, on the dead level of the valley, is the memorable field 
of Churubusco. The tite de pont, where the brunt of the battle 
took place, was distinctly visible, and I could count every tree in 
the gardens of the convent. The panic of the Mexicans on the 
evening after the fight at Churubusco was described to me as hav- 
ing been without bounds. Foreigners residing in the capital say 
it'might then have been taken with scarce a blow. 

Beyond Tacubaya, we saw the houses of Miscoac, where the 
army was stationed for some time before it advanced to the formei 
place. Gen. Scott's head-quarters was in the Bishop's Palace at 
Tacubaya, which is distinctly seen from Chapultepec and within 
actual reach of its guns. On an upland slope north of the village 
and towards Tacuba the shattered walls of the Casa Mata were 
pointed out. Near at hand — almost at the very base of the 
hill — rose the white gable of Molino del Bey. The march of the 
attacking lines could be as distinctly traced as on a map. How 
Chapultepec, which commands every step of the way, could be 
stormed and carried with such a small force, seems almost mira- 
culous. Persons who witnessed the aflair from Tacubaya told me 
that the yells of the American troops as they ascended the hill in 
the face of a deadly hail of grape-shot, were absolutely terrific ; 
when they reached the top the Mexicans seemed to lose all thought 
of further defence, pouring in bewildered masses out of the doors 
and windows nearest the city, and tumbling like a torrent of water 
down the steep rocks. The Lieutenant, who was in Chapultepec 
at the time, said that one thousand and fifty bombs foil on the 
fortress before the assault ; the main tower, the battlements and 



MEXICAN FEELING TOWARDS THE UNITED STATES. 419 

Stairways are still broken and shattered from their effects. " Here," 
said he, as we walked along the summit terrace, " fifty of om-s lio 
buried ; and down yonder" — ^pointing to the foot of the hill — " so 
many that they were never counted." I was deeply moyed by his 
calm, sad manner, as he talked thus of the defeat and slaughter of 
his countrymen. I felt like a participant in the injury, and al- 
most wished that he had spoken of us with hate and reproach. 

I do not believe, however, that Mexican enmity to the United 
States has been increased by the war, but rather the contrary. 
During all my stay in the country I never heard a bitter word said 
against us. The officers of our army seem to have made frienda 
everywhere, and the war, by throwing the natives into direct con- 
tact with foreigners, has greatly abated their former prejudice 
against all not of Spanish blood. The departure of our troops was 
a cause of general lamentation among the tradesmen of Mexico 
and Vera Cruz. Nothing was more common to me than to hear 
Generals Scott and Taylor mentioned by the Mexicans in terms 
of entire respect and admiration. " If you should see General 
Taylor," said a very intelligent gentleman to me, " tell him that 
the Mexicans all honor him. He has never given up their houses 
to plunder ; he has helped their wounded and suffering ; he is as 
humane as he is bravt., and they can never feel enmity towards 
him." It may be that this generous forgetfulness of injury argues 
a want of earnest patriotism, but it was therefore none the less 
grateful to me as an American. 

We took leave of our kind guide and descended the hill. It 
was now after sunset ; we drove rapidly through the darkening 
cypresses and across a little meadow to the wall of Molino dd 
Rey. A guard admitted us into the courtyard, on one side of which 
loomed the tall structure of the mill ; the other sides were flanked 



420 ELDORADO. 

with low buildings, flat-roofed, with heavy parapets of stone along 
the outside. Crossing the yard, we passed through another gate to 
the open ground where the attack was made. This battle, as is 
now generally known, was a terrible mistake, costing the Americans 
eight hundred lives without any return for the sacrifice. The low 
parapets of the courtyard concealed a battery of cannon, and as 
our troops came down the bare, exposed face of the hill, rank after 
rank was mowed away by their deadly discharge. The mill was 
taken, it is true, but, being perfectly commanded by the guns of 
Chapultepec, it was an untenable position. 

It was by this time so dark that we returned to the city by the 
route we came, instead of taking the other aqueduct and follow- 
ing the line of G-en. Worth's advance to the Garita of San Cosme. 
Landing at Mr. Belden's residence, the Hotel de Bazar, we went 
into the Cafe adjoining, sat down by a marble table under the 
ever-blooming trees of the court-yard, and enjoyed a chirimoya ice 
— ^how delicious, may readily be imagined when I state that this 
fruit in its native state resembles nothing so much as a rich va- 
nilla cream. The Cafe de Bazar is kept by M. Arago, a brother 
of the French astronomer and statesman, and strikingly like him 
in features. At night, the light Moorish corridors around his 
fountained court-yard are lighted with gay-colored lamps, and 
knots of writers, politicians or stray tourists are gathered there 
until ten o'clock, when Mexican law obliges the place to be 
closed. 

Mr. Peyton and myself procured a pair of spirited mustangs 
and one morning rode out to the village of Guadalupe, three 
ftiiles on the road to Tampico. It was a bright, hot day, and 
Iztaccihuatl flaunted its naked snows in the sun. The road was 
crowded with arrieros and rancheros, on their way to and from the 



GUADALUPE. 421 

city — suspicious characters, some of them, but we had left our 
purses at home and taken our pistols along. The shrine of the 
Virgin was closed at the time but we saw the little chapel in 
which it was deposited and the flight of steps cut in the rock, 
which all devout Christians are expected to ascend on their knees. 
The principal church in the place is a large, imposing "structure, 
but there is a smaller building entirely of blue and white glazed 
tiles, the eflfect of which is remarkably neat and unique. Half 
way up the hill, some rich Mexican who was saved from ship- 
wreck by calling upon the Virgin of Gruadalupe, has erected a 
votive offering in the shape of an immense mast and three sails, 
looking, at a distance, like part of an actual ship. 

After a week in Mexico, I prepared to leave for Vera Cruz, to 
meet the British steamer of the 16th of February. The seats in 
the diligence had all been engaged for ten days previous, and I 
was obliged to take a place in the pescantCj or driver's box, for 
which I paid $34. Again I rolled my sarape around my scanty 
luggage and donneu the well-worn corduroy coat. I took leave of 
my kind friend Mr. Parrot, and lay down to pass my last night in 
the city of the Mo'^tezumas. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

THE BASE OF POPOCATAPETL. 

When we were called up by the mozo, at four o'clock, the ail' 
was dark, damp and chilly: not a star was to be seen. The 
travelers who gathered to take their chocolate in the dining-hall 
wore heavy cloaks or sarapes thrown over the shoulder and cov- 
ering the mouth. Among them was my companion from Guana- 
juato, Don Antonio de Campos. I climbed to my seat in the 
pescantCj above the driver and groom, and waited the order to 
start. At last the inside was packed, the luggage lashed on 
behind, and the harness examined by lanterns, to see that it was 
properly adjusted. " Vamos P"' cried the driver; the- rope was 
jerked from the leaders, and away we thundered down the silent 
sl.reets, my head barely clearing the swinging lamps, stretched from 
corner to corner. We passed through the great plaza, now dim 
nd deserted : the towers of the Cathedral were lost in mist. 
Crossing the canal, we drove through dark alleys to the barrier of 
the city, where an escort of lancers, in waiting among the gloomy 
court-yards, quietly took their places on either side of us. 

A chill fog hung over all the valley. The air was benumbing, 
and I found two coats insufficient to preserve warmth. There are 
no gardens and fields of maguey on this side of the city, as on that 



ANOTHER VIEW OF THE VALLEY 423 

of Tacubaya Here and there, a plantation of maize interrupts thp 
uniformity of the barren plains of grass. In many places, the 
marshy soil bordering on Lake Tezcuco, is traversed by deep 
ditches, which render it partially fit for cultivation. Leaving the 
shores of Tezcuco, we turned southward, changed horses at the 
little Penon, (an isolated hill, between Lakes Chalco and Xochi- 
milco) and drove on to Ayotla. This is the point where the 
American army under Gen. Scott left the main road to Mexico, 
turning around the Peiion Grrande, south of the town, and taking 
the opposite shore of Lake Chalco. It is a small, insignificant 
village, but prettily situated beside the lake and at the foot of the 
towering Penon ; a little further, a road branches off to Ameca 
and the foot of Popocatapetl. Here we left the valley, and began 
ascending the barren slopes of the mountain. Clumps of unsightly 
cactus studded the rocky soil, which was cut into rough arroyoa 
by the annual rains. 

Slowly toiling up the ascent, we changed horses at a large haci- 
enda, built on one of the steps of the mountains, whence, looking 
back\vard, the view of the valley was charming. The Penon 
stood in fiont; southward, towards Ameca and Tenango, 
stretched a great plain, belted with green. wheat-fields and dotted 
with the white towers of villages. The waters of Chalco were at 
our feet, and northward, through a gap in the hills, the broad 
sheet of Lake Tezcuco flashed in the sun. But it was not till 
we had climbed high among the pine forests and looked out from 
under the eaves of the clouds, that I fully realized the grandeur of 
this celebrated view. The vision seemed to embrace a world at 
one glance. The ValJey.of Mexico, nearly one hundred miles in 
extent, lay below, its mountain-walls buried in the clouds which 
hung like a curtain above the immense picture. But through a 



i24 ELDORADO 

rift in this canopy, a broad sheet of sunshine slowly wandered over 
the valley, now glimmering on the lakes and biightening the 
green of the fields and gardens, and now lighting up, with wonder- 
ful efifect, the yellow sides of the ranges of hills. Had the morn- 
ino- been clear, the view would have been more extended, but T do 
not- think its broadest and brightest aspect could have surpassed 
in effect, the mysterious half-light, half-gloom in which I saw it. 

The clouds rolled around us as I gazed, and the cold wind blew 
drearily among the pines. Our escort, now increased to twelve 
lancers, shortened theii- ascent by taking the mule paths. They 
looked rather picturesque, climbing in single file through the 
forest ; their long blue cloaks hanging on their horses' flanks and 
their red pennons fluttering in the mist. The rugged defiles 
through which our road lay, are*the most famous resort for robbers 
in all Mexico. For miles we passed through one continued 
ambush, where frequent crosses among the rocks hinted dark 
stories of assault and death. Our valorous lancers lagged behind, 
wherever the rocks were highest and the pines most thickly set ; 
I should not have counted a single moment on their assistance, 
had we been attacked. I think I enjoyed the wild scenery of the 
pass more, from its perils. The ominous gloom of the day and 
the sound of the wind as it swept the trailing clouds through the 
woods of pine, heightened this feeling to something like a positive 
enjoyment. 

When we reached the inn of Rio Frio, a little below the sum- 
mit of the pass, on its eastern side, our greatest danger was over 
Breakfast was on the table, and the eggs, rice, guisados and frijoles 
speedily disappeared before our sharp-set appetites. Luckily for 
our hunger, the diligence from Puebla had not arrived. The little 
valley of Rio Fiio is hedged in by high, piny peaks, somewhat 



I 



THE TABLE-LAND OF PUEBLa". 421 

reseml ling the Catskills. Below it, another wild, dangerous pass 
of two or three miles opens upon the fertile and beautiful table- 
land of Puebla. The first object which strikes the eye on emerg- 
ing from the woods, is the peak of Malinche, standing alone on the 
plain, about midway between the mountain ranges which termi- 
nate, on the Mexican side, in Popocatapetl, on the* Vera Cruz side, 
in Orizaba. I looked into the sky, above the tree-tops, for the 
snows of Iztaccihuatl and Popocatapetl, but only a few white 
streaks on the side of the former volcano, could be seen. A vio- 
lent snow-storm was raging along its summit, and upon Popocat- 
apetl, which was entirely hidden from sight. 

The table-land on which we entered, descends, with a barely 
perceptible slant, to Puebla — a distance of forty miles. Its sur- 
face, fenceless, and almost boundless to the eye, is covered with 
wheat and maize. Fine roads cross it ; and the white walls of 
haciendas, half-buried in the foliage of their gardens, dot it, at in- 
tervals, to the feet of the distant mountains. The driver, an in- 
telligent Mexican, pointed out to me the various points of interest, 
as we passed along. He professed to speak a little English, too, 
which he said he had picked up from passengers on the road ; 
but as all his English amounted only to a choice vocabulary of 
oaths, it told badly for the character of his passengers. 

All afternoon the clouds covered the «iummit3 of the volcanoes, 
and stretching like a roof across the lable-land, rested on the 
broad shoidders of Malinche. As the sun descended, they lifted 
a little, and I could see the sides of Popocatapetl as far as the 
limit of the snow; but his head was still hooded. At last, through 
a break just above the pinnacle of his cone, the light poured in a 
full blaze, silvering the inner edges of the clouds with a suddcL 
and splendid lustre. The snowy apex of the mountain, bathed In 



426 * ELDORADO. 

full radiance, seemed brighter than the sun itself —a spot ci 
light so pure, so inconceivably dazzling, that though I could not 
withdraw my gaze, the eye could scarcely bear its excess. Then, 
as the clouds rolled together once more, the sun climbing through 
numerous rifts, made bars of light in the vapory atmosphere, 
reaching from the sides of Popocatapetl to their bases, many 
leagues away, on. the plain. It was as if the mountain genii who 
built the volcano had just finished their work, leaving these, the 
airy gangways of their scaffolding, still planted around it, to at- 
test its marvellous size and grandeur. 

The most imposing view of Popocatapetl is from the side to- 
wards Puebla. It is not seen, as from the valley of Mexico, over 
the rims of intermediate mountains, but the cone widens down- 
ward with an unbroken outline, till it strikes the smooth table- 
land. On the right, but separated by a deep gap in the range, 
is the broad, irregular summit of Iztaccihuatl, gleaming with 
snow. The signification of the name is the " White Lady," 
given by the Azteos on account of a fancied resemblance in its 
outline to the figure of a reclining female. The mountain of Ma- 
linche, opposite to the volcanoes, almost rivals them in majestic 
appearance. It rises from a base of thirty miles in breadth, to 
a height of about thirteen thousand feet. I gazed long upon 
its cloudy top and wooded waist, which the sun belted with a 
beam of gold, for on its opposite side, on the banks of a river 
which we crossed just before reaching Puebla, stands the ancient 
city of Tlascala. The name of the volcano Malinche, is an 
Aztec corruption of Mariana, the Indian wife of Cortez. I could 
not look upon it without an ardent desire to stand on its sides, and 
with Bernal Diaz in hand, trace out the extent of the territory 
oQce possessed by his brave and magnanimous allies. 



THE PYRAMID OF CHOLULA. 427 

On the other hand, between me and the sunset, stood a still 
more interesting memorial of the Aztec power. There, in full 
view, its giant terraces clearly defined against the sky, the top- 
most one crowned with cypress, loomed the Pyramid of Choliila ' 
The lines of this immense work are for the most part distinctly 
cut ; on the eastern side, only, they are slightly interrupted by 
vegetation, and probably the spoliation of the structure. Although 
several miles distant, and rising from the level of the plain, with- 
out the advantage of natural elevation, the size of the pyramid 
astonished me. It seems an abrupt hill, equal in height and im- 
posing form to the long range in front of it, or the dark hill of 
Tlaloc behind. Even with Popocatapetl for a back-ground, its 
cfi"ect does not diminish. The Spaniards, with all their waste of 
gold on heavy cathedrals and prison-like palaces, have never equal- 
led this relic of the barbaric empire they overthrew. 

I do not know whether the resemblance between the outline of 
this pyramid and that of the land of Mexico, from sea to sea, has 
been remarked. It is certainly no forced similitude. There is the 
foundation terrace of the Tierra Caliente ; the steep ascent to the 
second broad terrace of the table-land ; and again, the succeeding 
ascent to the lofty, narrow plateau dividing the waters of the con- 
tinent. If we grant that the forms of the pyramid, the dome, the 
pillar and the arch, have their antitypes in Nature, it is no fan- 
ciful speculation to suppose that the Aztecs, with that breadth of 
imagination common to intelligent barbarism, m'ade their world 
he model for their temples of worship and sacrifice. 

Cholula vanished in the dusk, as we crossed the river of T!as- 
cala and entered the shallow basin in which stands Puebla. The 
many towers of its churches and convents showed picturesquely 
»ii the twilight. The streets were filled with gay crowds returD- 



428 ELDORADO. 

ing From the Alameda. Motley maskers, on horseback and on 
foot, reminded' us that this was the commencement of Carnival. 
The great plaza into which we drove was filled with stands of 
fruit-venders, before each of which flared a large torch raised 
upon a pole. The cathedral is in better style, and shows to 
greater advantage than that of Mexico. So we passed to the 
Hotel de Diligencias, where a good dinner, in readiness, delighted 
us more than the carnival or the cathedral. 

After the final dish of frijoles had been dispatched, I made a 
short night-stroll thi'ough the city. The wind was blowing strong 
and cold from the mountains, whistling under the arches of the 
cortal and flaring the red torches that burned in the market-place. 
The fruit-sellers, nevertheless, kept at their posts, exchanging 
jokes occasionally with a masked figure in some nondescript cos- 
tume. I found shelter from the wind, at last, in a grand old 
church, near the plaza. The interior was brilliantly lighted, and 
the floor covered by kneeling figures. There was nothing in the 
church itself, except its vastn.ess and ditaness, to interest me ; but 
the choral music I there heard was not to be described. A 
choir of boys, alternating with one of rich masculine voices, over- 
ran the full peal of the organ, and filled the aisle with delicious 
harmony. There was a single voice, which seemed to come out 
of the air, in the pauses of the choral, and send its clear, trumpet- 
tones directly to the heart. As long as the exercises continued, I 
stood by the door, completely chained by those divine sounds. 
The incense finally faded ; the tapers were put out one by one ; 
the worshippers arose, took another dip in the basin of holy water, 
and retired ; and I, too., went back to the hotel, and tried to keep 
warm under cover of a single sarape. 

The manufactures of Puebla are becoming important to Mexico 



PUEBLA. 4<}f) 

— the more so, from the comparative liberality which is now exer- 
cised towards foreigners. A few years ago, I was informed, a 
stranger was liable to be insulted, if not assaulted, in the streets ; 
but, latterly, this prejudice is vanishing. The table-land around 
the city is probably one of the finest grain countries in the world. 
Under a proper administration of Government, Puebla might be- ' 
come the first manufacturing town in Mexico. 



CHAPTER XLIll. 

GLIMPSES OF PURGATORY AND PARADISE. 

RisiNG before three o'clock is no pleasant thing, on the high 
table-land of Puebla, especially when one has to face the cold 
from the fore top of a diligence ; but I contrived to cheat the early 
travel of its annoyance, by looking backward to Popocatapetl, which 
rose cold and unclouded in the morning twilight. We sped over 
fertile plains, past the foot of Malinche, and met the sunrise at the 
town of Amozoque, another noted robber-hold. In the arroyos 
which cross the road at its eastern gate a fight took place between 
the advanced guard of the American army and a body of Mexican 
soldiers, on the march to the capital. 

From Amozoque the plain ascends, with a scarcely perceptible 
rise, to the summit of the dividing ridge, beyond Perote. The 
clouds, which had gathered again by this time, hid from our view 
the mountain barriers of the table-land, to the east and west. 
The second post brought us to Acajete, whose white dome and 
towers we saw long before reaching it, projected brightly against 
the pines of a steep mountain behind. One is only allowed time 
at the posts to stretch his legs and light a cigar. The horses — or 
mules, as the case may be — are always in readiness, and woe to the 



PURGATORY. 431 

onlucky traveler who stands a hundred yards from the diligence 
when the rope is drawn away from the ramping leaders. 

The insular mountain of Acajete shelters a gang of robbers 
among its ravines, and the road, bending to the left around its 
base, is hedged with ambush of the most convenient kind. The 
driver pointed out to me a spot in the thicket where One of the 
gang was shot not long before. Half-way up the acclivity, a 
thread of blue smoke rose through the trees, apparently from 
some hut or camp on a little shelf at the foot of a precipice. 
Further than this, we saw nothing which seemed to denote their 
propinquity. The pass was cleared, the horses changed at El 
Pinal — a large hacienda on the north side of the mountain — and 
we dashed on till nearly noon, when the spires of Nopaluca ap- 
peared behind a distant hill — the welcome heralds of breakfast ! 

Beyond this point, where a trail branches off to Orizaba, the 
character of the scenery is entirely changed. "We saw no longer 
the green wheat-plains and stately haciendas of Puebla. The 
road passed over an immense llano, covered with short, brown 
grass, and swept by a furious wind. To the north, occasional 
peaks — barren, rocky and desolate in their appearance, — rose at 
a short distance from our path. On the other hand, the llano 
stretched away for many a league, forming a horizon to the eye 
before it reached the foot of the mountains. The wind frequently 
increased to such a pitch that all trace of the landscape was lost. 
Columns of dust, rising side by side from the plain, mingled as 
they whirled along, shrouding us as completely as a Newfoundland 
fog. The sun was at times totally darkened. My eyes, which 
were strongly blood-shotten, from too much gazing at the snows of 
Popocatapetl, were severely affected by this hurricane. But there 
is no evil without some accompanying good ; and the same wind 



432 ELDORADO. 

which nearly stifled me with dust, at last brushed away the clouds 
fi-om the smooth, gradual outline of Cofre de Perote, and revealed 
the shining head of Orizaba. 

Beyond La Venta de Soto, the roal skirts a striking peak of 
rock, whose outline is nearly that of an exact pyramid, several 
thousand feet in height. The mozo called it Monte Pizarro. 
From its dark ravines the robbers frequently sally, to attack tra- 
velers on the plain. At some distance from the road, I noticed 
a mounted guard who followed us till relieved by another, planted 
at short intervals. As the sunset came on, we' reached a savago 
volcanic region, where the only vegetation scattered over the ridgy 
beds of black lava, was the yucca and the bristly cactus. There 
were no inhabitants ; some huts, here and there, stood in ruins ; 
and the solitary guard, moving like a shadow over the lava hills, 
only added to the loneliness and increased the impression of dan- 
ger. I have seen many wild and bleak spots, but none so abso- 
lutely Tartarean in its aspect. There was no softer transition of 
scene to break the feeling it occasioned, for the nightfall deepened 
as we advanced, leaving everything in dusky shadow, but the vast 
bulk of Cofre de Perote, which loomed between me and the southern 
stars. At last, lights glimmered ahead ; we passed down a street 
lined with miserable houses, across a narrow and dirty plaza, and 
into a cramped court-yard. The worst dinner we ate on the 
whole journey was being prepared in the most cheerless of rooms 
This was Perote. 

I went out to walk after dinner, but did not go far. The 
squalid look cf the houses, and the villanous expression of the 
faces, seen by the light of a few starving lamps, offered nothing 
attractive, and the wind by this time was more piercing than ever. 
Perote bears a bad reputation in every respect : its situation is 



THE EDGE OF THE TABLE-LAND. 433 

the bleakest in Mexico, and its people the most shameless in their, 
depredations. The diligence is frequently robbed at the very gates 
of the town. We slept with another blanket on our beds, and 
found the addition of our sarapes still desirable. The mozo awoke 
Jis at half-past two, to coffee and chocolate in the cold. I climbed 
into the pescante and drew the canvas cover of the top around 
my shoulders. The driver — an American, who had been twenty 
years on the road — gave the word of starting, and let his eight 
mules have full rein. Five lancers accompanied us — two some 
distance in advance, one on each side and one bringing up the 
rear. The stars shone with a frosty lustre, looking larger and 
brighter in the thin air. We journeyed for two hours in a half 
darkness, which nevertheless permitted me to see that the country 
was worth little notice by daylight — a bleak region, ten thousand 
feet above the sea, and very sparsely inhabited. ♦ 

About sunrise we reached the summit of the pass, and com- 
menced descending through scattering pine woods. The declivity 
was at first gradual, but when we had passed the bevelled slope of 
the summit ridge, our road lay along the very brink of the mountains 
overlooking everything that lay between them and the Gulf of 
Mexico. Immediately north of the pass, the mountain chain turns 
eastward, running towards the Gulf in parallel ridges, on the sum- 
mits of which we looked down. The beds of the valleys, wild, 
broken, and buried in a wilderness but little visited, were lost in 
the dense air, which filled them like a vapor. Beginning at the 
region cf lava and stunted pine, the eye travels downward, from 
summit to summit of the ranges, catching, at intervals, glimpses 
of gardens, green fields of grain, orange orchards, groves of palm 
and gleaming towers, till at last it rests on the far-away glimmer 
of tho soa, under the morning sun Fancy yourself riding along 
19 



i34 



ELDORADO. 



the ramparts of a fortress ten thousand feet in height, with all the 
climates of the earth spread out below you, zone lying beyond zone, 
and the whole bounded at the furthest horizon to which vision can 
reach, by the illimitable sea ! Such is the view which meets one 
on descending to Jalapa. 

The road was broad and smooth, and our mules whirled ua 
downward on a rapid gallop. In half an hour from the time when 
around us the hoar-frost was lying on black ridges of lava and 
whitening the tips of the pine branches, we saw the orange and 
banana, basking in the glow of a region where frost was 
unknown. We were now on the borders of paradise. The 
streams, leaping down crystal-clear from the snows of Cofre de 
Perote, fretted their way through tangles of roses and blossoming 
vines ; the turf had a sheen like that of a new-cut emerald ; the 
mould, upturi^ed for garden land, showed a velvety richness and 
softness, and the palm, that true child of light, lifted its slender 
shaft and spread its majestic leaves against the serene blue oi 
heaven. As we came out of the deep-sunken valleys on the brow 
of a ridge facing the south, there stood, distinct and shadowless 
from base to apex, the Mountain of Orizaba. It rose beyond 
mountains so far off that all trace of chasm or ledge or belting 
forest was folded in a veil of blue air, yet its grand, immaculate 
cone, of perfect outline, was so white, so dazzling, so pure in its 
frozen clearness, like that of an Arctic morn, that the eye lost its 
sense of the airy gulf between, and it seemed that I might stretch 
out my hand and touch it. No peak among mountains can be 
more sublime than Orizaba. Rising from the level of the sea and 
the perpetual summer of the tropics, with an unbroken line to the 
height of eighteen thousand feet, it stands singly above the other 
ranges with its spotless crown -^f snow, as some giant, white-haired 



PARADISE 435 

Noi tliern king miglit stand among a host of the weak, effeminate 
sybarites of the South. Orizaba dwells alone in my memory, as 
the only perfect type of a mountain to be found on the Earth. 

After two leagues of this enchanting travel we came to Jalapa, 
a city of about twenty thousand inhabitants, on the slope of the 
hills, half-way between the sea and the table-land, overlooking the 
one and dominated by the other. The streets are as clean as a 
Dutch cottage; the one-story, tiled houses, sparkling in the sun, 
are buiied in gardens that rival the Hesperldes. Two miles before 
reaching the town the odor of its orange blossoms filled the air. 
We descended its streets to the Diligence Hotel, at the bottom, 
where, on arriving, we found there would be no stage to Vera 
Cruz for two days, so we gave ourselves up to the full enjoyment 
of the spot. My fellow-passenger for Guanajuato, Don Antonio 
de Campos, and myself, climbed into the tower of the hotel, and 
sat down under its roof to enjoy the look-out. The whole land- 
scape was like a garden. For leagues around the town it was one 
constant alternation of field, grove and ^garden — the fields of the 
freshest green, the groves white with blossoms and ringing with the 
songs of birds, and the gardens loading the air with delicious per- 
fume. Stately haciendas were perched on the vernal slopes, and 
in the fields ; on the roads and windinoj mule-paths of the hills we 
saw everywhere a gay and light-hearted people. "We passed the 
whole afternoon in the tower ; the time went by like a single pul- 
sation of delight. I felt, then, that there could be no greater hap- 
piness than in thus living forever, without a single thought beyond 
the enjoyment of the scene. My friend, Don Antonio, was busy 
with old memories. Twenty years before, he came through Jalapa 
tor the first time, an ardent, aspiring youth, thinking to achieve 
bis fortune in three or four years and return with it to his native 



436 ELDORADO. 

Portugal ; but alas ! twenty years had barely sufficed for the ful- 
filment of his dreams — twenty years of toil among the barren 
mountains of Guanajuato. Now, he said, all that time vanished 
from his mind ; his boyish glimpse of Jalapa was his Yesterday, 
and the half-forgotten life of his early home lay close behind it. 

After dinner, all our fellow-travelers set out for the Alameda, 
which lies in a little valley at the foot of the town. A broad 
paved walk, with benches of stone at the side and stone urns on 
lofty pedestals at short intervals, leads to a bridge over a deep 
chasm, where the little river plunges through a mesh of vines into 
a large basin below. Beyond this bridge, a dozen foot-paths lead 
off to the groves and shaded glens, the haciendas and orange 
orchards. The idlers of the town strolled back and forth, enjoying 
the long twilight and balmy air. We were all in the most joyous 
mood, and my fellow-passengers oflhree or four different nations 
expressed their delight in as many tongues, with an amusing 
contrast of exclamations : " Ah^ que joli petit pays de Jalape .'" 
cried the little Frenchwoman, who had talked in a steady stream 
since leaving Mexico, notwithstanding she was going to France on 
account of delicate lungs. " Siente uste el aroma de las naran- 
jas ?" asked a dark-eyed Andalusian. " Himmliscke Luft .'" 
exclaimed the enraptured German, unconsciously quoting Gotz 
von Berlichingen. Don Antonio turned to me, saying in 
English : " My pulse is quicker and ray blood warmer than for 
twenty years ; I believe my youth is actually coming back again." 
We talked thus till the stars came out and the perfumed air was cool 
with invisible dew. 

When we awoke the next morninsr it was raininor, and continued 
to rain all day — not a slow, dreary drizzle, nor a torrent of heavy 
drops, as rain comes to us, but a fine, ethereal, gauzy veilof mois- 



JALAPA RAIN. 437 

fcnre that scarcely stirred the grass on which it fell or shook the 
light golden pollen from the orange flowers. Every two or three 
days such a shower comes down on the soil of Jalapa — 

" a perpetual April to the ground. 
Making it all one emerald." 

We could not stroll among the gardens or sit under the urns of 
the Alameda, but the towers and balconies were left us ; the land- 
so^pe, though faint and blurred by the filmy rain, was nearly as 
b&utiful, and the perfume could not be washed out of the air. 
So passed the day, and with the night we betook ourselves early 
to rest, for the Diligence was to leave at three o'clock on the 
morrow. 

For two leagues after leaving Jalapa I smelt the orange blos- 
soms in the starry morning, but when daylight glimmered on the 
distant Gulf, we were riding between bleak hills, covered with 
chapparal, having descended to the barren heats of the tropi- 
cal winter, beyond the line of the mountain-gathered showers. 
The road was rough and toilsome, but our driver, an intelligent 
American, knew every stone and rut in the dark and managed his 
eight mules with an address and calculation which seemed to me 
marvellous. He had been on the road six years, at a salary of 
$150 per month, from the savings of which he had purchased a 
handsome little property in Jalapa. Don Juan, as the natives 
called him, was a great. favorite along the road, which his sturdy, 
upright character well deserved. At sunrise we reached the 
hacienda of El Encero, belonging to Santa Anna, as do most of 
the other haciendas between Jalapa and Vera Cruz. The hill of 
Cerro Gordo appeared before us, and a drive of an hour brought 
us to the oluster of cane-huts bearin? the same name. 



438 ELDORADO. 

The physical features of the field of Cerro Gordo are very in 
teresting. It is a double peak, rising from the midst of rough, 
rolling hills, covered with a dense thicket of cactus and thorny 
shrubs. Towards Vera Cruz it is protected by deep barrancas ; 
and passes, which in proper hands might be made impregnable. 
Had Gren. Scott attempted to take it by advancing up the broad 
highway, he must inevitably have lost the battle ; but by cutting 
a road through the chapparal with great labor, making a circuit of 
several miles, he reached the north-eastern slope of the hill — the 
most accessible point, and according to the Mexican story, the side 
least defended. Having gained one of the peaks of the hill, the 
charge was made down the side and up the opposite steep in the 
face of the Mexican batteries. The steady march of our forces 
under this deadly hail, to the inspiriting blast of the Northern 
bugles, has been described to me by ofi&cers who took part in the 
fight, as the most magnificent spectacle of the war. After taking 
the battery, the guns were turned upon the Mexicans, who were 
flying through the chapparal in all directions. Many, overcome 
by terror, leaped from the brink of the barranca at the foot of the 
hill and were crushed to death in the fall. Santa Anna, who 
escaped at this place, was taken down by a path known to some 
of the officers. The chapparal is still strewn thickly with bleached 
bones, principally of the mules and horses who were attached to 
the ammunition wagons of the enemy. The driver told me that 
until recently there were plenty of cannon-balls lying beside the 
road, but that every American, English or French traveler took 
one as a relic, till there were no more to be seen. A shallow 
cave beside the road was pointed out as the spot where the Mexi- 
cans hid their ammunition. It was not discovered by our troopS; 
but a Mexican who knew the secret, sold it to them out of re- 



CERRO GORDO. 439 

venge for the non-payment of some mules which he had fijrmshed 
to his own army. The driver lay hidden in Jalapa for some days 
previous to the battle, unable to escape, and the first intelligence. 
he received of what had taken place, was that furnished by the 
sight of the flying Mexicans. They poured through the town that 
evening and the day following, he said, in the wildest disorder, 
some mounted on donkeys, some on mules, some on foot, many of 
the officers without hats or swords, others wi'apped in the dusty 
coat of a private, and all cursing, gesticulating and actually weep- 
ing, like men crazed. They had been so confident of success that 
the reverse seemed almost heart-breaking. 

A few miles beyond Cerro Gordo we reached Plan del Rio, a 
small village of cane huts, which was burned down by order of 
Santa Anna, on the approach of the American forces. A splen- 
did stone bridge across the river was afterwards blown up by the 
guerillas, in the foolish idea that they would stop an American 
specie-train, coming from Vera Cruz. In half a day after the 
train arrived there was an excellent road across the chasm, and 
the Mexicans use it to this day, for the shattered arch has never 
been rebuilt. From Plan del Rio to the Puente Nacional is about 
three leagues, through the same waste of cactus and chapparal. 
The latter place, the scene of many a brush with the guerillas 
during the war, is in a very wild and picturesque glen, through 
which the river forces its way to the sea. The bridge is one of 
the most magnificent structures of the kind on the continent. On 
a little knoU, at the end towards Jalapa, stands a stately hacienda 
belonging to Santa Anna. 

We sped on through the dreary chapparal, now sprinkled with 
palms and blossoming trees. The country is naturally rich and 
oroductive, but is littla batter than a desert. The only inhabitanta 



440 ELDORADO. 

are a set of half-naked Indians, who live in miserable huts, sup- 
porting themselves by a scanty cultivation of maize, and the deei 
they kill in the thickets. Just before we reached the sea-shore, 
one of these people came out of the woods, with a little spotted 
fawn in his arms, which he offered to sell. The driver bought \i 
for a dollar, and the beautiful little creatui-e, not more than two 
weeks old, was given to me to carry. I shielded it from the cold 
sea-wind, and with a contented bleat it nestled down in my lap 
and soon fell fast asleep. 

At sunset we drove out on the broad sands bordering the Grulf. 
A chill norther was blowing, and the waves thundered over the 
coral reefs with a wintry sound. Vera Cruz sat on the bleak 
shore, a league before us, her domes and spires painted on the 
gloomy sky. The white walls of San Juan d'Ulloa rose from the 
water beyond the shipping. Not a tree or green thing was to be 
seen for miles around the city, which looked as completely deso- 
late as if built in the middle of Zahara. Nevertheless, I blessed 
the sight of it, and felt a degree of joy as I passed within its gates, 
for the long journey of twolve hundred miles across the Continent 
was safely accomplished 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

VERA CRUZ AND SAN JUAN d'uLLOA HOMEWARD. 

I CANNOT say much of Vera Cruz. A town built and sustained 
by commerce alone, and that not the most flourishing, presents 
few points of interijst to the traveler. Its physiognomy differs but 
little from that of the other Mexican cities I have described. 
There is the Plaza, flanked by the Cathedral, — the same pink 
mass of old Spanish architecture, picturesque only for its associa- 
tions — the Diligence Hotel, with its arched corridor forming a cor 
tal along one side — the dreary, half-deserted streets, with theii 
occasional palaces of stone enclosing paved and fountained court- 
yards — the market, heaped with the same pyramids of fruit which 
have become so familiar to us — the dirty adobe huts, nearest the 
walls, with their cut-throat population — and finally, the population 
itself, rendered more active, intelligent and civilized by the pre- 
sence of a large number of- foreigners, but still comprised mainly 
of the half-breed, with the same habits and propensities as we find 
in the interior. The town is contracted ; standing in the plaza, one 
can see its four corners, bounded by the walls and the sea, and all 
within d, few minutes' walk. Outside of the gates wo come at once 
npon th? d':>sorts of snnd. 



442 ELDORADO. 

On reaching Vera Cruz, there were no tidings of the steamer, 
which was due on the 4th. The U. S. schooner Flirt, Capt. 
Farren, was in port waiting for a norther to go down, to sail for 
New Orleans, but there was small chance of passage on board of 
her. On the morning of the 15th, the U. S. steamer Water-witch 
Capt Totten, made her appearance, bound homeward after a 
cruise to Havana, Sisal, Campeachy and Laguna. I had almost 
determined, in default of any other opportunity, to take passage 
in her, as a " distressed citizen," when, on rowing out to the 
Castle of San Juan d'Ulloa on the third morning, one of the boat- 
men descried a faint thread of smoke on the horizon. " JEl 
vapor .'" was the general exclamation, and at least fifty dissatisfied 
persons recovered their good-humor. 

My friend Don Antonio was acquainted with the Commandante 
of the Castle, Don Manuel Robles, by which means we obtained 
free admission within its coral walls. It is a place of immense 
strength, and in the hands of men who know how to defend it, need 
no more be taken than Gibraltar. We climbed to the top of the 
tower, walked around the parapets, shouted into the echoing wells 
sunk deep in the rock, and examined its gigantic walls. The 
ppongy coral of which it is built receives the shot and shells that 
have been thrown upon it, without splintering ; here and there 
we noticed holes where they had imbedded themselves in it, rather 
adding to its solidity. We sat two or three hours in the tower, 
watching the approaching smoke of the steamer. As the chimes 
rang noon in Vera Cruz, a terrific blast of trumpets pealed through 
the courtyard of the Castle, below us. The yellow-faced soldiers, 
in their white shirts and straw hats with the word " Ulua" upon 
them, mustered along one side, and after a brief drill, had their 
dinner of rice, frijoles and coffee served to them. The force in 



dUNDAY IN VERA CRUZ. 443 

tbe Castle appeared vei-y small ; the men were buried in its im- 
mense vaults and galleries, and at times, looking down from the 
tower, scarcely a soul was to be seen. The Commandante invited 
us to his quarters, and offered us refreshments, after we had made 
the round of the parapets. Singularly enough, his room was hung 
^vith American engravings of the battles of the late war 

The most interesting object in Vera Cruz is an old church, in 
the southern part of the city, which was built by Cortez, in 1531 
—the oldest Christian church in the New World. Some miles 
distant is the old town of Vera Cruz, which was abandoned for the 
present site. I had not time to visit it, nor the traces of the 
Americans among the sand-hiUs encircKng the city. One Sunday 
evening, however, I visited the paseo, a paved walk outside the 
gate, with walls to keep off the sand and some miserable attempts 
at trees here and there. As it was Carnival, the place was 
crowded, but most of the promenaders appeared to be foreigners. 
Beyond the paseo, however, stood a cluster of half-ruined buildmgs, 
where the lower class of the native population was gathered at a 
fandango. After the arrival of the steamer nothing was talked of 
but our departure and nothing done but to pack trunks and contrive 
ways of smuggling money, in order to avoid the export duty. of six 
per cent. 



We left Vera Cruz on the morning of February 19th, and reached 
Tampico Bar after a run of twenty-two hours. The surf was so 
liigh after the recent norther, that we were obliged to wait three 
days before the little river-steamer could come to us with her mil- 
lion of dollars. The Thames, however, was so spacious and plea- 
sant a ship, that we were hardly annoyed by the delay. Coming 
from semi-civilized Mexico, the sight of English order and the en- 



444 ELDORADO 

joyment of English comfort were doubly agreeable. Among our 
passengers were Lady Emeline Stuart Wortley, returning from a 
heroic trip to Mexico ; Lord Mark Kerr, a gentleman of intelli 
gence and refinement, and an amateur artist of much talent ; and 
Mr. Hill, an English traveler, on his way home after three years? 
spent in Russia, Siberia, Polynesia^ and the interior of South 
America. My eight days spent on board the Thames, passed 
• away rapidly, and on the afternoon of the 269i', we made the 
light-house on Mobile Point, and came-to among the shipping at 
the anchorage. I transferred myself and sarape to the deek of a 
high-pressure freight-boat, and after lying all night in the bay, on 
account of a heavy fog, set foot next morning on the wharf at 
Mobile. 

Leaving the same afternoon, I passed two days on the beautiful 
Alabama River ^ was whirled in the cars from Montgomery to 
Opelika, and jolted twenty-four hours in a shabby stage, over the 
hills of Georgia, to' the station of Griffin, on the Central Railroad ; 
sped away through Atlanta and Augusta to Charleston ; tossed a 
night on the Atlantic, crossed the pine-barrens of Carolina and 
the impoverished fields of the Old Dominion ; halted a day at 
Washington to deliver dispatches from Mexico, a day at Home, in 
Pennsylvania, and finally reached my old working-desk in the Tri- 
bune Office on the night of March 10th — just eight months and 
eight days from the time of my departure. 

Thus closed a journey more novel and adventurous than any I 
hope to make again. I trust the profit of it has not been wholly 
mine, but that the reader who has followed me through the fore- 
going pages, may find some things in them, which to have read 
were not also to have forgotten. 

TITK F.ND. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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